RAQS AL SHAMADAN Raks al shamadan – dance with candelabra on head, is a style that we can see during wedding processions in Middle East, called zaffa. Zaffa music has a rhythm also called zaffa. Dancer can play on the zills during dancing. Nowadays, dancer and a group of musicians are leading a bride and […]
KAVAL Kaval , is an end-blown flute made of wood or water buffalo horn. Kaval is fully open at both ends and has 8 playing holes (or sometimes more). We can hear it in music of Turkey, Greece, Macedonia, Albania, Azerbaijan. Kaval is similar to Persian flute – nay. Here you can see and […]
MIJWIZ MIJWIZ (ar. مجوز) is a musical instrument made of bamboo reed. It consists of two pipes of the same length, each one with five or six holes for fingers. Playing on this instrument, a musician inhales and exhales air through the mijwiz, making this way uninterrupted sound. Mijwiz is very popular in Egypt (especially […]
DABKE Dabke or debkah, debka, dabki is a folk dance form from Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. Male and female dancers are dancing in lines or circle. Characteristic are jumps and combinations of steps. Traditionally it was danced to beat the clay which was a material for building roofs of houses. Music for the dabke dance is […]
KISSAR KISSAR is plucked string instrument. It is a type of lyre from ancient Nubia. The body of kissar is round, made of turtle shell or wood, finished with membrane made of sheepskin. Five strings are stretched between the two arms. The kissar is played with plectrum, by holding the frame like the guitar. Currently kissar can […]
BENDIR Bendir (arab. بندر) is type of a frame drum. It is used as a traditional instrument throughout North Africa. Bendir has a special hole in the frame for the thumb finger. Many of bendirs has a snare made of gut, stretched across its head. Bendir is used in the special ceremonies of the Sufi. […]
TANOURA Tanoura is a folk dance from Egypt. This style comes from Sufi form of Zikr ritual, called also ‘the whirling dervish dance’. It is a male dance style, dancers are Sufi men called Dervish – mystics, members of religious brotherhoods. From the religious ceremony it changed into a form of an entertainment show presented […]