ALEXANDRIA: Songs about love and heartache, with poignant lyrics and tender melodies marked the performance of the Burg El Arab Bedouin Folklore Troupe.
“I love you as much as God loves people, I love you like a drinker loves his glass, I care about you the same way a shepherd cares for his flock, I love you like a mother that loves her infant.
In another song, a couple suffers equally because of their doomed love. Forced to marry another by her family, her lover grows distraught and the lyrics become even more desperate.
This is a sampling of the songs performed last week by the troupe as part of the Ramadan Cultural Nights held at the Sidi El Morsi Abu El Abass Mosque in Alexandria.
The troupe consists of 27 performers, musicians and a Bedouin dancer known as Hajala, whose face was covered. They’ve only been together for three months, and put on their first successful show in Alexandria this Ramadan.
Although many of the audience members could not follow the lyrics belted out in the Bedouin accent, the dancers-cum-singers made an impression with their dexterity and boisterous tunes. Their folkloric performance was accompanied by melodies from el makruna (Bedouin pipe) and el darabouka (drum).
When officials at the culture ministry saw their performance for the first time, they were so impressed that they decided to include the troupe in their Ramadan cultural program so people could experience genuine Bedouin folklore and art.
“Apart from the cultural aspect of the performance, this is a representation of the Bedouin tradition in Burg El Arab, an area where the Bedouin lifestyle has not been tarnished by the customs of outsiders, says Hisham El Aqari, the troupe manager and director of the cultural committee at Burg El Arab’s local council.
“You would probably not believe it if I tell you that we continue to observe medieval Bedouin traditions marked by the invasion of tribal territories by other tribes, by wars that start when one shepherd steals another’s goats. We have our own weddings, funerals and reconciliation ceremonies that date back to the time of Jahilia (pre-Islamic era), he explained.
“What you have seen tonight is only a fraction of our customs, but I am happy that these performers are representing folklore in its original form. This is what you would see if you visit our desert domains in Burg El Arab, added Aqari.
He cited El-Alam, El-Shitawa, El-Magruda and Dam El-Ash as some of the most well-known forms of Burg El Arab’s folkloric heritage.
According to Aqari, El-Alam is a draining emotional experience that leaves you in aching disappointment. El-Shitawa is a song or group of songs that laments the end of summer. El-Magruda recounts a long tale, while Dam El-Ash is a name given to a kind of poem written during harvests.
Faiz Kamel, the troupe’s supervisor who is not a Bedouin, stressed that it is important to revive the folkloric traditions of the Bedouins and other groups. “If we wish to go global, we should start with local heritage, says Kamel. “People wouldn’t be interested if we develop our own jazz or other non-local musical genres. We have to learn how to introduce our own heritage abroad.
The troupe will continue to perform, adopting its primitive approach, until the Ministry of Culture allocates a budget that will allow them to expand their scope.
“I worry that we may have to compromise on that element of primitiveness once our folklore turns into show-biz, Aqari remarked. “That happened with many Bedouin troupes in Sinai and Marsa Matrouh as their performances garnered more and more attention.
“Over the years, we have managed to sustain the desert lifestyle. Our tribe originally hailed from Najd in Saudi Arabia. They migrated to Egypt and Morocco. In Saudi Arabia, they mixed with other races, which influenced their traditions. Ours, however, has remained intact, he said.
