Saudi dance?

Question

Hello to everyone!!!

When Mr.Bush visited K.S.A.,after the official meeting,he had a party like meeting with other saudi officials

there was a recorded media with His Majesty,King Abdullah and Mr Bush dancing and handling swords

i'd like to know what is this?a custom?a ritual?any meaning?

if anyone can give me a detailed answer on that matter...i'll be very happy

thank you all,for your efforts!

Answer 1

One of Saudi Arabia's most compelling folk rituals is the Al Ardha, the country's national dance. This sword dance is based on ancient Bedouin traditions: drummers beat out a rhythm and a poet chants verses while sword-carrying men dance shoulder to shoulder. Al-sihba folk music, from the Hijaz, has its origins in al-Andalus. In Mecca, Medina and Jeddah, dance and song incorporate the sound of the mizmar, an oboe-like woodwind instrument. The drum is also an important instrument according to traditional and tribal customs.

best of luck to you!

Answer 2

The dance is known as the "Ardha",  the men's sword dance. It is the national dance of Saudi Arabia with its roots in Najd, the central region of the Arabian Peninsula that according to Wikipedia, "provided the setting for many of the great romances of classical Arabic poetry and later became the birthplace of the religious and political movement that gave rise to modern Saudi Arabia. The Saudi royal family, the Al Saud, are natives of Nejd."

Traditionally, the dancers danced to the singing of Bedouin singers and a poet would recite a poem in a sing-song manner or someone would narrate a story as sword-wielding men  stood shoulder to shoulder and moved (danced) to drum beats.

Every head of state is expected to take part in this dance. It has only caught world, particularly US, media attention because the US president George Bush was performing it with the Saudi King and many eye-brows were raised as to its significance particularly when the Associate Press reporter commented that Bush left the Gulf region "with a sword".

The dance now is merely ceremonial and symbolic. To the desert-dwelling Bedouins of the past, the sword was the most important weapon which offered them protection against their enemies, mostly their relatives as the Bedouins were divided into many tribes, and with it they waged wars against their rivals.

According to Wikipedia, a widely quoted Bedouin saying is "I against my brothers, I and my brothers against my cousins, I and my brothers and my cousins against the world".

Wiki says "The saying signifies a hierarchy of loyalties based on closeness of kinship that runs from the nuclear family through the lineage, the tribe, and even, in principle at least, to an entire ethnic or linguistic group (which is perceived to have a kinship basis)."

So, your guess is as good as mine as to what the Saudi King and Bush are saying to the world as they stood shoulder to shoulder with their swords in the Ardha dance.