Folk song in Qalamoun in a symposium with the culture of Al-Adawi

Damascus-SANA

The folk song is related to the local environment of the community, its customs and traditions, of joys and sorrows, and it is an integral part of the intangible heritage. The Syrian cities, regions and governorates are famous for a number of traditional folk songs, which differ from one region to another, but the traditional folk song in the Qalamoun region was characterized by a special flavor of lyrics and melodies.

The peculiarity of the folk song in Qalamoun was elaborated upon during the heritage symposium, which was hosted by the Arab Cultural Center in Al-Adawi with the participation of the Zajli poet and musician Ibrahim Abdullah and researcher Sarah Bahbouh who moderated the symposium.

The poet Abdullah began the seminar by talking about zajal as part of the folk song, which is an art of folk literature and descends from Syriac origins, and then developed until it reached its current form, which is a traditional form of Arabic poetry in the spoken language, and it comes in the form of a debate between a number of zajjalin. Accompanied by a melodic rhythm with the help of musical instruments, Abdullah lied on the types of zajal, which are Al-Ma’ani, Al-Ataba, Al-Mijana, Al-Sharouqi, Al-Rozana, Al-Nadab, Zaghrouda and Al-Qardi.

Regarding the folk song in Qalamoun, he pointed out that the region was affected by its geographical location, which mediated between Damascus and Homs, which made the folk song in it affected by mountainous song, sharp dialect, and fast rhythm on the one hand, and the Bedouin song, which was characterized by the length of the poetic sea, slow rhythm and letters that distinguish this dialect, despite The area was influenced by the Syriac language, pointing out that the popular song in Qalamoun converges with the surrounding towns and villages, such as Maaloula, Jaba’in and Bakha, so these songs are associated with customs, traditions and the environment.

The rhythm of the folk song, according to Abdullah, constitutes the pulse of the song, as it is the controller of the movements and stillness of the letters and words accompanying the music of the song, and what distinguishes these rhythms from each other is the number of beats and their repetition, pointing out that the popular song is rich in its diversity;

Because of the geographical location between the Badia, which adopts slow rhythms, and the seas of long hair, which is suitable for desert life and wide pastures.

At the end of the symposium, Abdullah stressed the need for the folk artist to preserve this heritage, and to adhere to the beautiful word and the weights of zajal, admonition and megana.

In turn, researcher Sarah Bahbouh indicated in a statement to SANA reporter that the aim of this symposium is to shed light on the intangible heritage in the Qalamoun region, pointing out that the folk song is the basis of the land and people, and we try in our seminars to focus on it to be widely known, indicating that preserving heritage It starts from childhood and enters as a subject in the educational curriculum.

The symposium included the presentation of musical samples from the region on the oud, presented by the poet Abdullah, accompanied by the young flute player Mahmoud Al-Maghrabi.

Hadi Imran

Follow Sana's news on Telegram https://t.me/SyrianArabNewsAgency