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Friday, October 16, 2020

Video Of Awtar al-Jabal Mandela Dance (Khartoum, Sudan) with selected comments




Ahmed Rahal, March 21, 2015

فرقة أوتار الجبال .. و رقصة المندلا

Click https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9QkC4uoztY&ab_channel=AhmedRahal for a dance video published in 2012 by Ahmed Rahal 
-snip-
The word "mandela" here doesn't refer to the late South African activist/President Nelson Mandela. 

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INFORMATION ABOUT SUDAN
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudan#Ethnic_groups
"Republic of the Sudan[12] (Arabic: جمهورية السودان‎ Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in North-East Africa. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, Libya to the northwest, Chad to the west, the Central African Republic to the southwest, South Sudan to the south, Ethiopia to the southeast, Eritrea to the east, and the Red Sea to the northeast. Sudan has a population of 43 million (2018 estimate)[13] and occupies 1,886,068 square kilometres (728,215 square miles), making it Africa's third-largest country and also the third-largest in the Arab world. It was the largest country in Africa and the Arab world by area before the secession of South Sudan in 2011.[14]

[...]

The Arab presence is estimated at 70% of the population. Others include North Sudan Nubians, Zurga (South and West Sudan), and Copts.[224][225]

 [...]

Ethnic Groups

Sudan has 597 groups that speak over 400 different languages and dialects.[226] Sudanese Arabs are by far the largest ethnic group in Sudan. They are almost entirely Muslims; while the majority speak Sudanese Arabic, some other Arab tribes speak different Arabic dialects like Awadia and Fadnia tribes and Bani Arak tribes who speak Najdi Arabic; and Beni Ḥassān, Al-Ashraf and Rashaida who speak Hejazi Arabic. In addition, the Western province comprises various ethnic groups, while a few Arab Bedouin of the northern Rizeigat and others who speak Sudanese Arabic share the same culture and backgrounds of the Sudanese Arabs.

The majority of Arabised and indigenous tribes like the Fur, Zaghawa, Borgo, Masalit and some Baggara ethnic groups, who speak Chadian Arabic, show less cultural integration because of cultural, linguistic and genealogical variations with other Arab and Arabised tribes.[227]

Sudanese Arabs of Northern and Eastern parts descend primarily from migrants from the Arabian Peninsula and intermarriages with the pre-existing indigenous populations of Sudan, especially the Nubian people, who also share a common history with Egypt. Additionally, a few pre-Islamic Arabian tribes existed in Sudan from earlier migrations into the region from Western Arabia, although most Arabs in Sudan are dated from migrations after the 12th century.[228]

The vast majority of Arab tribes in Sudan migrated into the Sudan in the 12th century, intermarried with the indigenous Nubian and other African populations and introduced Islam.[229]

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COMMENTS FROM THE DISCUSSION THREAD OF THIS EMBEDDED VIDEO
(These comments are numbered for referencing purposes only.)

1. 
شربيك شربيك

2017
"انها عادتنا ليس بل وكلماتنا اوصول جبال النوبة عروس الجبال"
-snip-
Google translate from Arabic to English
Khaled10 Khaled 10, 2017
"Creativity of our people and our neighbors

Halfawi"

**
2. Azizi Powell, 2017
"Greetings.

Thank you for producing and sharing this video. I'm an African American who is interested in African cultures and happened upon this video. What ethnic group and nation in Africa is this and what language are they speaking? I'd appreciate any information (in English or French) that you can provide about this video as I would like to showcase it on my pancocojams cultural blog. Thank you very much!" ** 3. Hadi Hummad, 2019 "Azizi Powell  hi Aziz

this music by Nubians of Nuba mountain in Western of Sudan." ** REPLY 4. Azizi Powell, 2020 @ Hadi Hummadm greetings. Please accept my apology. I'm just reading your comment from almost a year ago. Thanks for sharing that information with me.

Blessings to you during these difficult times.

**

5. Ahmed Rahal, 2020 "Thanks a lot, bro for you comments and I do appreciate your sense of identity and your pride of the African culture. This band comes from Nuba Mountains in Sudan and the language they use in this song is Nuba language mixed with some Arabic words. Feel free to share this video with any groups with the same interests as my aim is [to] spread our cultural heritage around the world." ** REPLY 6. Ahmed Rahal,2020 "The name of the band is Awtar Al-jebal. Which is Arabic words for ‘Strings of the Mountains’." ** REPLY 7. Azizi Powell, 2020 @Ahmed Rahal, greetings. Thanks you for sharing that information about this video. I love learning about Black cultures throughout the world. Unfortunately, people in the United States know very little about Sudanese history and culture, so videos such as the ones you share on YouTube are a much needed addition to raising our awareness.

I used Google translate from Arabic to English for the title of this video and got the translation "The mountain strings band ... and the mandala dance". Is this mandala dance traditional to the Nuba people? Would you or anyone else please share information about this dance. Thanks in advance. I showcased this video and some of these comments on my pancocojams cultural blog. Thanks again and blessings to you during these difficult times. Btw, I am a sister, but "it's all good". :o) ** 8. Saico Tec, 2018

"رائع.. السودان القارة البلد المتفرد.. اااخ يا تلفزيون السودان المستعرب وااخ من السياسة.. التحية للجبال والنيل الأزرق عموم وكل مناطق السودان لعن الله الحرب جعلتنا لا نعرف عن السودان شئ غير عاصمته"
-snip-
Google translate from Arabic to English:
"
Wonderful .. Sudan is the continent, the unique country .. Brother, the Arabized Sudan TV, and brother from politics .. Greetings to the mountains and the Blue Nile in general and all regions of Sudan, may God curse, the war made us do not know about Sudan, something other than its capital."

**
9. 
الزين كبير

2020

تحياتي اهلي النوبه في كل أرجاء المعمورة و نسأل آلله يحفظكم ..... امريكا...لانغلي -snip-
Google translate from Arabic to English
"Greetings to the people of the Nuba in all parts of the globe, and we ask God to protect you ..... America ... Langley"

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2 comments:

  1. I just noticed that one of the men dancing in this video has paper money pinned to his shirt. [This can be seen at around 3:11 in this video.]

    I've seen this custom of giving money to singers, dancers. and other people (such as the bride and groom) in Nigerian videos.

    I believe the custom among some African Americans (and less often among some other people in the United States) can be traced to this West African custom.

    I wonder if this custom is an old one in Sudan or if this custom came from Nigeria or other nations in West Africa.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Here is a reply from the video publisher Ahmed Rahal, and my reply to him

    Ahmed Rahal
    19 minutes ago, Oct 16, 2020
    "@Azizi Powell Thanks a lot sister for your kind words and I’m deeply sorry to call you bro, instead of sister, because your name sounds like the Arabic word ‘Azizi’ which we normally say it to the man which means ‘my dear’.


    REPLY
    Azizi Powell, five minutes ago, Oct. 16, 2020
    "@Ahmed Rahal, that's okay Ahmed. I was given the name "Azizi" in 1969 when some African Americans were changing their first name (and sometimes also their last names) informally or officially to express their pride in African culture. In those pre-internet days, we knew more Arabic names than names from African languages. I was told that "Aziz" was a masculine name (with the meaning very much like you wrote) and "Aziza" or "Azizi" were the female forms of that name. I was also told that "Azizi" was a KiSwahili name as well as an Arabic name.

    Ahmed, since I wrote that first comment to you today, I've been watching a number of your videos (I also subscribed to your channel.) As I mentioned in my comment, I think that the Internet in general and YouTube in particular can be a good way of reaching people throughout the world and increasing their knowledge about different cultures. For instance, since I subscribed to your channel, I got this 2014 video of yours in my recommended videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txBkfjzBY-k&ab_channel=AhmedRahal. The Google translation for the Arabic title is "Noujoum Talla - High skills on the rhythm of Al-Karnak". Does Al-Karnak refer to the Egyptian temple? Are these dance movements and clothing traditional to Sudan and is this the same dance group that was featured in this video that I'm commenting to?

    It would be so helpful to those of us who watch your videos and don't know Arabic if you would add some information about the dances in your summary or if other people who know this culture would share their knowledge via the comments even if the comments are in Arabic, if Google translations feature can be trusted..

    Thanks again, your African American sister."

    ReplyDelete