Democratic Palestine : 27 (ص 51)
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- عنوان
- Democratic Palestine : 27 (ص 51)
- المحتوى
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Al Ard
Al Ard (The Land) folklore group, based in Yarmouk camp,
Damascus, works to perpetuate Palestinian popular culture through
music and dance. The following article is based on interviews with Al
Ard’s director, Ali Baiis, and other members of the group.
Not only did the Israeli occupation
‘usurp the land of Palestine; the Zionists
have also tried to destroy or steal the
Palestinian culture, even claiming some
of its elements as their own. Thus,
preserving Palestinian culture is an
important facet of the Palestinian na-
tional liberation struggle. The Palesti-
nian people realize that a people
without culture are people without
identity. They have thus worked to
perpetuate their culture. As a result,
many folklore groups have _ been
founded in occupied Palestine and
among Palestinian communities in ex-
ile. Al Ard is one of these groups.
Through song and dance, it has suc-
ceeded in converting folklore into one
prong of the fierce struggle against the
Zionist and imperialist enemy.
BEGINNINGS IN BEIRUT
Al Ard was originally established in
Beirut in 1977, by a number of Palesti-
nian artists and musical performers liv-
ing outside their homeland, due to the
occupation. They realized that one
aspect of the aggressive Zionist plan to
uproot the Palestinian people as a
whole was the elimination of their
culture heritage, thus eradicating
Palestine’s history. In Beirut, Al Ard
worked mainly to revive Palestinian
folklore through song, dance and
costume. However, its work was
disrupted by the 1982 Israeli invasion
of Lebanon, which targetted a variety
of cultural, civilian and social institu-
tions in the attempt to destroy the PLO.
Most of the group’s equipment was
destroyed, and several members were
martyred.
REORGANIZATION
Two years later, in Damascus, 1984,
efforts were made to reestablish the
group. Ali Bajis, who had worked with
Al Ard in Beirut, was put in charge of
reestablishing and managing the group.
Ali Bajis, better known as Abu Imad, is
the only professionally trained musi-
cian in the group. He studied music in
Jerusalem in 1957, and later worked in
this field in Amman, Jordan, before
joining the Palestinian revolution in
1970. As well as directing Al Ard, Abu
Imad is a member of the executive
council of the General Union of
Palestinian Expressive (Performing)
Artists.
In Damascus, Al Ard’s work was
more systematically organized. The
organizing committee adopted an in-
ternal charter or rules and regulations
governing the functioning of the group.
The criteria for membership were
specified as being democratic, commit-
ted to the national cause and possessing
talent relevant to the group’s aims and
work.
The search began for qualified young
men and women. Abu Imad emphasiz-
ed that in recruiting to Al Ard, «We
focused on the person’s national
commitment. Concerning talent, if the
person had basic abilities, we knew we
could refine and polish these.» Very
few professionally trained artists have
joined the group so, especially in the
beginning, great efforts and long hours
were expended on training the majori-
ty. The background of some of Al
Ard’s performers gives an idea of how
the group developed. Yasmin, one of
the dancers, had been performing with
the Ghassan Kanafani youth group
since 1979, and was the first female to
join AJ Ard after it was reorganized in
Damascus. Another of the dancers,
Sumayeh, emphasized that she had
«one thing in common with everyone
else in the group - a great commitment
to our cause and strong interest in
folklore.» This, she said, had helped
her to endure the extensive training in
the beginning, but mainly she credited
Al Ard itself, which «has really become
a school of Palestinian folklore», for
enabling her to develop into a profes-
sional dancer.
One of Al Ard’s singers is Ahmed, a
Palestinian who grew up in Naireb
camp in northern Syria. Before joining
the group three years ago, he was
working in Aleppo, and singing old
Palestinian songs as a hobby at wed-
dings and nationalist celebrations. He
learned Al Ard songs from listening to
them on tapes. When he finally had the
chance to attend one of the group’s
performances, he was motivated to
join. Abu Imad listened to Ahmed’s
voice and thought that, although un-
trained, he had great potential. Today
Ahmed says he learned everything he
knows about music from Al Ard. - هو جزء من
- Democratic Palestine : 27
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