Hijazi Mizmar dance adds color to celebrations

The Hijaz is known for its artistic and literary history, including folk dances and musical instruments that date back to the Abbasid and Fatimid eras.
Muhammad Yusuf Trabulsi, author of “Jeddah: The Tale of a City,” says that the flute (Mizmar) “is one of the most widely used wind instruments in the cities of Hijaz. It is usually played during happy events. You will be hard pressed to find a Hijazi who cannot play the flute. They are trained from childhood to play and sing to the flute.”
He said that people usually play the flute while they are around fires, where the players dance in twos, to the music of “iddah.” There is also often a drummer present, with the percussion instrument made of natural leather. Then there are the dancers striking each other’s small wooden sticks, much like a sword fight, while touching their hands and fingers in set movements.
Usually, a prominent member of the neighborhood stands opposite the dancers and recites the “zoumal,” a kind of panegyric to good and ethical behavior. People standing in rows behind them sing the refrains.
This kind of dance uses intricate pieces of wood, called the Nabbut, Arabic for club, or Al-Oud, which is Arabic for a thin stick, usually brought from Egypt. The players take special care of these clubs and sticks, often adding their own personal touches to them.
To prevent clashes between the players and the dancers, sometimes the chief of the “hara,” the man in charge of its administrative affairs, directs the process and organizes who plays with whom. This especially happens when men from one neighborhood visits another to participate in their dances and want to demonstrate their artistic prowess.
The dancers have their own rituals and costumes. “They don the usual white thobe, and then wear the Hijazi sweater over it, and the ‘provincial kiffiyyah,’ a kind of head cover for men,” said Trabulsi.
These practices have been going on for centuries. The flute dances most commonly accompany wedding processions, and there has been a tendency by women to use it for the wedding procession or the bride.