The Moroccan artist, Manal Benchlikha, sparked widespread controversy on social media platforms, after a young Moroccan designer named “Khawla”, known as “The Fake of My Life”, published posts accusing Manal of stealing her idea and using it in one of the looks she appeared in in a video clip included in her 1-year album. 2023.
The Moroccan designer, Khawla, accused the artist, Manal Benchlikha, of imitating her own technique in designing traditional scarves in the manner of “falsifying my life”, after the latter appeared in a photo wearing a silk scarf, so the designer commented in a tweet on “Twitter” saying: “It is not a shame to be inspired, the shame is to be transferred.”
And at a time when Manal Benshlikha chose to remain silent and ignore the accusations leveled against her, her audience and some activists of the communication platforms launched an attack on the designer, Khawla, highlighting that the “false life” dress falls within the Moroccan heritage, and it has been known since ancient times, as grandmothers and mothers used it as a hair cover after showering. And in their daily lives, due to the privacy of its cloth, which is able to absorb moisture.
Commentators added that the designer’s accusations are “empty”, considering that she should not attribute the design to herself just because she adopts it in all her modern looks, noting that the Moroccan heritage elements belong to all Moroccans without exception.
In this context, a source close to Benchlikha revealed, in a statement to Hespress, that the latter never claimed that this style belongs to her and her own style, adding that she “has always included elements representing Moroccan culture and heritage in her lyrical works and video clips that she presents, in addition to her personal photos through her pages, desiring to shed light on her and honor her in her own way as an artist.”
It is worth noting that Manal Benshelikha unveiled her latest music video, which is part of her new album titled “A Broken Arab Heart”, which she promoted for weeks through her official accounts on social media.
Manal’s new song is titled “Marrakesh”, and it is the first song in the album. She bore her signature on the level of writing the lyrics in cooperation with Nayzak, while she filmed it as a video clip in the city of Marrakesh under the supervision of director Farid Malki.
The owner of “Slay” also presented a lyrical duet that she collected for the first time with the Jordanian artist Issam Al-Najjar, filmed in the manner of a video clip in the city of Casablanca under the supervision of director John Primo.