Tunisie Telecom just dropped a new AFCON ad in support of the Tunisian national team, and it’s going viral. It’s no surprise that people in Egypt fell in love with it from the very first instant. After all, we all know this rhythm by heart from the 90s hit song “Kol El Banat Bethebak”, by Hossam Hosny. However, the original songwriter was not very happy about this.

Antar Helal, the original writer of the song, claims that the agency behind the ad stole the rhythm and did not get his permission in advance. “What happened is a scandal and piracy of a song that’s 28 years old”, Antar said. “I was shocked when I first heard the song. This is an extreme violation of intellectual property, and the law should be on our side.”

It’s such a shame that the ad is facing such an obstacle when, everything else aside, it’s that cool! The aesthetics, the costumes, the art direction, even the video’s screen aspect ratio, it all screams retro vibes!

The identity of the director, however, remains a mystery. It takes real Egyptian spirit to pull off such a thing, so, could they be a fellow native, or a super-talented Tunisian immersed in our pop culture?

When the ad was first released, it garnered 110,000 views in only 7 hours! It’s also worth mentioning that this is not the first time a Tunisian ad song sounds familiar. Last year, during the World Cup season, Tunisie Telecom released another ad, and its song was also copying another, the famed Russian song Katyusha.

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By Yara Tarek