Following a dispute on social networks Disney has decided that it will once again dub its films into Egyptian Arabic. This is in addition to dubbing them in modern, standard Arabic. Disney stopped using Egyptian Arabic, or Masri, in 2012 – although it had been regularly voicing over in that dialect since the 1970’s.
Breaking this 40-year-old practice angered audiences. On the social networks the hashtag #Disney_must_return_Egyptian (#ديزني_لازم_ترجع_مصري) was very widespread. Egyptian actors Mohamed Henedy and Mona Zaki, famous for voicing Disney characters, supported the campaign. The hashtag wasn’t confined to Egypt – it was even discussed by the media and audiences in the Gulf States.
Now the American company has announced the casting of the voices in this revised version of Encanto. Jihan Al-Nasser will voice “Grandmother”, Shorouk Al Sharif the main character “Mirabel” and Ziad Al Sharif will voice “Bruno”. Jihan Al-Nasser will also be this version’s musical director. Her voice has been heard (speaking and singing) on many Disney films, including Pocahontas, The Lion King and Aladdin.
Encanto had its international release at the end of 2021.
Sources : BroadcastPro, Egypt Independent
