Parrots at Play in the Arab Soundscape

The African Grey Parrot is a popular pet in the Arab world, particularly in the affluent Gulf region, where it is known formally as al-babghā’ al-afrīqī al-ramādī and colloquially as the kasko. This talented bird attracts interest on Arabic-language social media for much the same reason as it does elsewhere in the world: Its uncanny speech abilities lend themselves readily to human appropriation.

The African Grey’s talkative online presence largely reflects Arab cultural and religious practices. Yet, the affective relationships that Arabic speakers have forged with their kaskos also reveal a playfully antagonistic dynamic that belies the imitative deference suggested by the verb “to parrot.”

Vocal Birds in Virtual Settings

A primary audience for the African Grey online, where a vibrant marketplace for the bird exists, is the consumer. For dealers and trainers who specialize in African Greys and other charismatic birds, the internet is a venue for advertising their products and services and sharing expertise for parrot owners.

It is often difficult to discern the videos and advertisements produced by these kasko entrepreneurs from the casual social media posts of African Grey owners. Both, after all, foreground the bird’s linguistic capabilities. Their common canon of greetings, exclamations, and noises redound the bird’s value as a companion and a commodity.

Online classified pages put one-time kasko owners in the position of salespeople. The bird’s major selling point, generally, is a list of its linguistic accomplishments. Entire YouTube channels, meanwhile, are populated by thirty-minute recordings of birds repeating chosen words or phrases. Parrot owners presumably use these instructional tools to supplement their own efforts.

Whether made by professionals or amateurs, these videos generate a shared horizon of expectation for avian abilities.

If a consumer’s decision to buy an African Grey is rooted in a culture of conspicuous consumption mediated by social media, then the verbal repertoire of each parrot is inspired by what other parrots can say and what instructional tools are already available. The online presence of the African Grey is, in this way, jointly produced within a web of relationships that bridges the online and the everyday.

The Domestic Soundscape

The domestic soundscape furnishes most of the kasko’s vocabulary. Parrots might learn everyday greetings (such as “marhaba or al-salaam ‘alaikum“), affectionate names (mama and baba, most commonly), and common nicknames (such as Karimo for Karim and Hamudeh for Muhammad). Other exchanges with their human companions include “I love you” in both Arabic and English and demands for kisses (“atini busa,” or “give me a kiss”).

Beyond the verbal, African Greys mimic doors opening and closing, water bubbling, car motors starting; cats meowing; and humans coughing, sneezing, and laughing.

Technological sounds, such as the ubiquitous Galaxy and iPhone preset rings and notifications, are also popular. Training parrots to imitate these beeps and (fittingly) chirps titillates in its juxtaposition of the living animal and the digital.

Faithful Companions

Among kasko videos online, one might also hear an exasperated “ya Allah” (“oh, Lord”), a plaintive “irziqna Allah” (“bless us, God”), or a relieved “al-hamdu lillah” (“praise be to God”), all common parlance in Arabic and not necessarily indicators of religiosity. Religion does, however, contribute to the African Grey’s Arabic lexicon.

Some common kasko phrases explicitly evoke religious identity for pious Muslim owners, including “sala ‘ala al-rasul” (“pray to the Prophet”) and “alf sala wa al-salaam ‘ala al-habib Muhammad” (“a thousand prayers and peace unto the beloved [prophet] Muhammad”).

More striking still are the kasko owners that specifically teach their pets Quranic verses. Some suras, chapters of the Quran, are short enough that African Greys can learn them in their entirety. The sura al-Ikhlas is a particularly popular passage for parrots to learn. Its first verse features prominently in instructional YouTube videos.

A 2017 television piece on al-Jazeera documents a particularly successful example. A Jordanian man has taught his bird al-Kawthar and al-Masad in addition to al-Ikhlas. Notably, the owner considers his parrot to be a member of his family. He avers that “to hear a child read a short sura from the Quran and simple prayers is a normal and natural thing. But to hear it from a bird with this clarity is closer to a miracle.” Might the bird—like the child—join the community of believers through the act of recitation?

If some words and phrases situate the kasko within the family, others include the bird in the practice of faith. The speech exhibited by African Greys online suggests, then, that the reputation of the parrot is driven as much by intimacy and fellowship as verbal dexterity.

Antagonistic Friends

The videos made by kasko entrepreneurs, however, suggest that potential owners are not only looking for birds that will faithfully adopt the role of household pet, but also those that act in ways more reminiscent of the taunting antics of friends.

Take “Parrots World TV,” for example, the YouTube channel of a certain Abu Ahmad al-Rifa’i. Abu Ahmad’s shows various kinds of parrots, but especially African Greys, some of which are explicitly for sale.  In videos such as this one, Abu Ahmed runs through a routine of phrases (demanding “Say, ‘Oh God’!” or asking, “Do you love me?”) and tricks he has taught the parrots (“Raise your wings!”). The routine demonstrates, as the video’s title suggests, his “high-quality talking parrot[s].”

Yet Abu Ahmad’s channel also features videos with titles like “rude parrot” (babgha’ qalil adab) or “troublesome parrot” (babgha’ mushkalji, lit. “problem-ji”).  The “rude parrot” stubbornly refuses to let go of a piece of wood chip in its beak even as Abu Ahmad requests a “kiss on the lips” and a “kiss on the cheek.” Abu Ahmad turns to the camera and smiles, laughing off the kasko’s tenacious attachment to his toy.

The “troublesome parrot,” on the other hand, is even more ornery, perching in its cage and trading barbs (and squawks) with Abu Ahmad: “Shut up!” “You shut up!” Thus, in the midst of all the happy compliance that Abu Ahmad advertises of his parrots, he also presents humorously unfriendly moments. The latter showcases a confrontational form of reciprocity, more like that of friends or siblings than obedient pets.

African Grey owners across the Arab world embrace this impish behavior. Videos of impudent pets abound. Some capture African Greys swearing in Arabic. In one video, a kasko replies to his owner’s poking and prodding with a particularly taboo curse.  “Shame [on you]!” replies its owner, laughing.

Another video, a compilation of clips of an African Grey named Juju, combines both the affectionate and antagonistic modes. Initially, the viewer witnesses an exchange of kisses and Juju’s declaration (in English), “I love you!”  Later, Juju asks his owner, Muhammad, for a kiss and, upon denial, expresses his displeasure with a whine of the owner’s nickname: “Hamuuud!” Juju proceeds to bite at Muhammad’s ear but is swatted away.  “Shut up!” yells Juju. “You shut up!” Muhammad retaliates.

The dialogue is almost vaudevillian. That it transfers so readily to the page is evidence of the anthropomorphizing qualities of this affectionate teasing style. Good-natured horseplay gives interactions with parrots an unpredictable quality of sociability that the mere echoing of words cannot accomplish on its own. In this way, friendly contrariness, alongside domestic and religious mimicry, endow the kasko with meaning.

Autonomous Animals

The saga of Juju and Mohammad makes clear that these moments of faux provocation are a key part of the cultural demand for African Grey parrots in the Arab world. Entrepreneurs like Abu Ahmad wisely capitalize upon this tendency, while kasko owners eagerly display it alongside other feats of avian achievement. Both acknowledge implicitly that these pets cannot be molded like slabs of clay if they are to be companionable creatures.

African Greys inevitably mirror the human context into which they are adopted to some extent, including its social and religious features. Their value as a commodity depends on their adherence to a cultural script that owners, entrepreneurs, and observers make together.

Nonetheless, the kasko’s interactions with humans are spirited and reciprocal. They are inadequately captured by unidirectional analogies like instruction or training. Here, the public confronts the conceptual limit of the “pet,” drawn instead to the autonomous animal at play.

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Featured image: An African Grey looks at the camera. Photo by Assaf Msika, 2022.

Joseph Leidy is a fellow at Exeter College, University of Oxford, where he teaches modern global history. His primary research is on the social and cultural history of Lebanon, Syria, and their diasporas in the Americas in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Contact.