Damascus-SANA
A Damascene autumn evening that carried the Syrian heritage character with its temporal and material richness, embraced by the archaeological Al-Azm Palace in Old Damascus, under the title “From grandparents to grandchildren, heritage is an identity.”
The evening was characterized by the diversity of its activities, as it was organized by the Intangible Heritage Directorate in the Ministry of Culture and the Al-Azm Palace Administration, in cooperation with the local community and the Syrian Al-Wafa Association for Development.
The evening included the opening of an exhibition of traditional crafts for the projects of the Al-Wafa Association, which is the Orient Heritage House project, which embraces more than 12 Damascene crafts, and a project to revive the Damascene oud and revitalize the Al-Aghbani craft.
The exhibition was decorated with products of stone mosaic crafts, mother of pearl, wood engraving, mosaic, Damask paint, Arabic thread, old Damascene sticks, and Agabani pieces.
In a statement to SANA, the director of the association, Ramal Saleh, stated that the aim of these projects is to preserve heritage and identity, ensure its continuity and pass it on to generations, and translate this through training young cadres capable of practicing Syrian crafts under the supervision of a group of distinguished craftsmen.
Decoration and painting are the basis of work in the Damascene paint craft, where the craftsman Maher Bozo from the Orient Heritage House explained that he participated in the exhibition through the “door of the Kaaba curtain,” indicating that this craft dates back to 1400 years and it is necessary to preserve it from extinction.
As for the Arabic thread craft, which relies on the use of a straight wooden thread with refractions and overlaps to form in its content elaborate geometric shapes, the craftsman Maher Al-Shami explained during his participation in the exhibition the types and uses that decorate Damascene houses.
The revival of the Damascene oud, which came into existence as a humanitarian development project, during a workshop for a project of the Al-Wafa’ Association in Zaqaq Al-Ward in the Sarouja neighborhood in the form of an incubator for the craftsman Bashar Jawdat Al-Halabi.
Al-Aghbani Al-Dimashqi has a special story inscribed with the insistence of the women of Douma to rise from under the rubble of the cruel war, and with the beginning of the liberation of their city in 2018, the Al-Wafa Association was one of the first associations to enter the city to meet the needs of its residents to choose the Al-Aghbani craft, which the city has been famous for more than 150 years, to preserve it and secure a source Rizk Karim for its ladies.
And about the project that participates in the women’s products in the exhibition between the craftsman Anas Ghannam, director of the Aghabani production line in the association, that at the beginning about 25 women joined the project and today their number has reached 300.
An evening from grandchildren to grandparents also included a variety of activities, including the lyric choir presented by the “Tulip” choir from Saleh Saleh School in the name of the Damascus branch of the Baath pioneers and its musical leader, Marah Sejri.
The choir members performed with their childish voices five different songs, including Open Sesame, Bird of Warwar and Teach Me to Mrs. Fairouz, from the Damascene heritage under her howling, and from the works of the artist Zaki Nassif Naqili Ahla Zahra.
Sejari indicated that working with children and adolescents is characterized by enthusiasm, despite its difficulty, but everyone possessed the determination to leave an influential imprint on the Syrian heritage society, and its most beautiful songs were swayed by the young men and women of the dance department of the social, cultural and sports project "Bakra Elna", where they presented, during their paragraph, a bouquet of songs from all governorates.
The trainer of the dance department in the project, Mohamed Hamdan, explained that the children's training is based on an integrated educational curriculum through which they seek to present the best performances, techniques and high physical fitness.
Shadow theater “Karakouz and Iwaz”, which was registered on the World Heritage List by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization “UNESCO”, was present in the evening through Michael Shadi Hallaq, son of the oldest storyteller in Damascus.
The storyteller and Shadow Shadow Theater presented by Shadi carried the message of handing over the flag to the sons, as he trained his eight-year-old child Jawad to manufacture shadow puppets 5 years ago to begin presenting performances among his family members and at his school, and this evening would be his first appearance on stage.
The Sufi Mawlawiya dance, which was decorated with the evenings of the old neighborhoods, was the end of the evening, which was presented by Diab Sukkari, the leader of the Ahmed Sukkari troupe for religious chanting and invocations. The Syrian and its delivery to the world in a modern way, as he translated this during his participation in the International Week for Syria in Lebanon with foreign musicians in an attempt to merge Eastern music with Western and present our ancient heritage.
At the end of the event, the director of Al-Azem Palace, Maysa Al-Ibrahim, confirmed in a statement to SANA that the palace worked throughout the war years to receive visitors as a museum of Syrian traditions and folklore to deliver a message to generations, link it to its heritage and preserve it, in addition to their work to establish a new museum generation that complements the museum’s mission.
It preserves the Syrian heritage and antiquities and presents them in a decent manner.
/for photos/
Rasha Mahfoud
