Recently, a state of controversy has arisen about cloning the voices of current and late famous singers, through artificial intelligence techniques, to perform songs that were not performed or approved by the owners of those voices.
The effect of artificial intelligence on singing
Critics who spoke to Sky News Arabia disagreed about the extent of the impact of artificial intelligence on the future of singers, and the extent to which it can replace them. It was the latest cloning process by a young composer of a footprint similar to Amr Diab’s voice, and through it he released a song that caused a great deal of confusion, as some believed that it was the voice of the plateau, until the famous singer’s company closed it on YouTube and social media platforms. This was preceded by the composer Amr Mostafa cloning a fingerprint similar to the voice of the late Umm Kulthum, which caused a dispute with her heirs, and sparked controversy among specialists who considered this an insult to the history and voice of Umm Kulthum. A wide controversy also erupted after a specialist reproduced a fingerprint similar to the voice of the late singer Abdel Halim Hafez, nicknamed the Nightingale, and used that fingerprint to perform songs by singer Amr Diab.
Big lie
For his part, the critic, who specializes in music and singing, Amjad Mostafa, said that attempts to reproduce the voices of great singers through artificial intelligence are a big lie and distortion of the voices of great Egyptian and non-Egyptian creators.
And he went on in statements to “Sky News Arabia” that the attempt of one of the composers to reproduce the imprint of Umm Kulthum’s voice did not result from this attempt to approach in any way the real voice of Umm Kulthum, and any attempt to reproduce the imprint of the voice of any well-known singer, whether current or late, and make him sing a modern song. It is only a process that keeps up with the “trend” and is in line with the fashion of the so-called artificial intelligence.
Amjad Mostafa also said that trying to reproduce the voice of Abdel Halim Hafez, Umm Kulthum, or even Amr Diab is just a waste of time.
And he explained that he asked the composer Amr Mostafa when he reproduced a fingerprint that he said was the voice of Umm Kulthum, asking him to present the melody to one of the current voices that perform Umm Kulthum’s songs, such as Mai Farouk or Reham Abdel Hakim.
Amjad Mustafa called on the Arab ministers of culture to meet to put an end to this problem, which he described as distorting the Arab singing wealth, because whatever sound is reproduced, it is just a man-made invention and can never communicate the same sense of the natural human voice.
Does not threaten the singers’ voices
And he stressed that despite this, artificial intelligence cannot threaten the voices of real singers or replace them, because the singer is not just a voice that utters words and only, but it is a feeling, and it is the feeling that explains the difference between a singer and others, as there is a singer whose voice is very strong, but he does not reach people. While we find a singer whose voice is less in terms of capabilities, but his feeling and ability to express are greater, he communicates to people more.
And he added that no matter how advanced artificial intelligence is, it will not match God’s creation, otherwise each of us would have made a voice capable of singing and everything would have become permissible.
Useful condition
While the art critic, Kariman Harak, said that in the case of relying on artificial intelligence to evoke an image of Umm Kulthum or Abdel Halim Hafez in what is known as a hologram, while we hear their real voices, this is beneficial and not harmful.
And she continued in statements to “Sky News Arabia” that if artificial intelligence is relied upon to reproduce the voices of departed or current singers and make them sing songs with melodies that these singers did not sing, then this is a problem, because besides that it offends those voices, it wastes the rights of their owners, and harms the music industry and workers. In them, because they will be replaced by artificial intelligence tools.
She explained that if we accept that idea with living singers if they agree to that, then this is not acceptable with the departed singers, because it offends the lyrical heritage and the rights of the authors and composers who participated in making those voices.
