Democratic Palestine : 27 (ص 52)
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- عنوان
- Democratic Palestine : 27 (ص 52)
- المحتوى
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MUSIC AND DANCE
Shortly after its reestablishment, the
group was divided into two subgroups
for the purpose of specializing in music
and dance, respectively. The dance
group, trained and led by Fuad Nahar
and Tarek Samallouti, concentrated on
debka, the traditional Palestinian
folkdance which has many variations.
The music and choral group was led by
Abu Imad. The subgroups rehearse
separately in order to perfect their
specialty, and jointly to prepare for
performances combining both
elements.
The musicians play all the basic
Arabic instruments. One of these is the
qanoun, a stringed instrument
resembling the zither with a shallow
trapeziodal sound box set horizontally
before the musician. Another is the
aoud, a form of lute. Yet others are the
Arabic-style flute made of bamboo,
without a mouthpiece, and the drums.
In addition to these, the main in-
struments of the group are ancient
Palestinian instruments such as the
rababa, astringed instrument resembling
the fiddle; the shabbaba, areed flute;
flute; and the famous urghoul, a wind
instrument related to the clarinet, con-
sisting of two pipes of unequal lengths.
THE PALESTINIAN
EXPERIENCE AS
OPERETTA
During the past three years, Al Ard
has developed the art of presenting
stories through song and dance in a
form of operetta. These operettas aim
at portraying the experience and agony
of the Palestinian people not for the
purpose of eliciting sympathy, but for
mass education and mobilization. The
first such musical was entitled «Sabra
and Shatila». Its intent was to show
that living in camps is not the natural
state of the Palestinian people, but
something that was forced on them,
and which they reject, all the more so
because it exposes them to attacks and
humiliation. In this musical, Al Ard
introduced a song which brought them
fame. The opening verse is as follows:
Who forces us to stay in camps
to endure calamities and stand
to receive the blows
waiting for a new massacre?
The concluding line of the song is: We
shall return, emphasizing that the
alternative to camp life is repatriation
in Palestine.
In 1984, Al Ard performed in an in-
ternational anti-racist rally in London,
having been invited by the city’s mayor.
They performed the «Sabra and
Shatila» musical in Queen Elizabeth
Theater; a large a number of pro-
Zionists were present in the audience.
Although the musical does not explicit-
ly pinpoint the Israeli role in the
massacre, these pro-Zionists caused
disorder while the performance was in
progress. For days, news about Al Ard
reverberated in the London press, with
right-wing forces labelling not only the
group but the mayor of London as
‘terrorist’ for having invited them.
Soon afterwards, this mayor was forced
to resign. While a number of factors
were involved, Abu Imad _ remains
convincec that the Zionist reaction to
the performance had much to do with
his resignation.
Al Ard has distinguished itself with
these operettas. Its second, entitled - هو جزء من
- Democratic Palestine : 27
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- ديسمبر ١٩٨٧
- المنشئ
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