Yes, you can be ‘happy’ like Pharrell Williams — even if you’re in Gaza

CAIRO, Egypt — It might seem crazy what I’m about to say. The Middle East is "happy."

At least, that’s what groups of mainly young people across the region are saying as they produce video tributes to Pharrell Williams’ hit song by that name.

“Happy,” featuring Williams’ impossibly smooth vocals, a catchy melody, and defiantly upbeat, redemptive message, inspired a worldwide outpouring of fan videos following its release last November.

The Middle East and North Africa region has been no exception to the craze. Fans in Tunisia adopted the meme early in its life cycle. Now in other places in the region, the song appears to have resonated among people struggling with war, siege, and civil strife.

One notable version comes from the otherwise unhappy city of Tripoli, Libya. Libya has been wracked by instability since the fall of dictator Muammar Qaddafi after a civil war in 2011. In Tripoli, the unrest has recently taken the shape of a wave of high profile kidnappings.

Uploaded by a breakdance crew from the Libyan capital in late March, the Tripolitan video shows youths undaunted by the violence.

Last week, Palestinian new media specialist Anas Hamra uploaded a version of the song from the Gaza Strip, where much of the economy and water and electrical grids have collapsed after a years-long blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt:

According to the video’s page, the same group of Palestinian YouTubers previously contributed to other internet memes, for example Gangnam Gaza Style, a version of the mega-hit by South Korean pop star Psy. The Gaza version used satire to call attention to Gaza’s myriad problems, including the electricity crisis and the Israeli and Egyptian border closures.

This group isn’t the only one to use photo, video, and other media to present Palestinians and other Middle Eastern peoples in a more human light than is transmitted through the daily news of conflict. One notable recent project was carried out by photographer Tanya Habjouqa, who documented Palestinians in their ordinary lives: practicing yoga, searching for wedding dresses, and walking through illicit underground tunnels to attend an event in Egypt.

Of course, not all takes on the "Happy" meme in the Middle East have come from the destitute and struggling. In another version, people in upscale sections of Beirut also sing the song. Other parts of Lebanon may be consumed by violence spilling over from neighboring Syria, but the people in the video strut along, as Beirutis have throughout decades of war both elsewhere in Lebanon and in the capital itself.