Page 7 - DILMUN 9

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pipe- with six fingers and one thumb hole. The
pitch is controlled by the width of the aperture
at its mouth and eight naiys together can
produce the full piano scale.
There is also the jerba, a bagpipe made of
goatskin and blown through a foreleg. The
chanter is fixed to the lower limb. It is not
tucked under the arm, but played like a
grotesque flute and its loud nasal music is
heard on the occasions of marriages and other
joyful celebrations, when the shrill ululations
of the women are joined to the beat and clash
of the tara.
Of the string instruments the aud or flute is
the favourite. This delicate and decorative
instrument provides the accompaniment for
the classical song recitals, as well as being a
performer in its own right.
There is also the rababa, a primitive ancestor
of the violin. Played with a horsehair bow, it
has one string. Finally there is the kanoon. a
type of zither played by the plucking of the
strings with fingers protected by metal finger-
stalls. This is also an instrument of the
classical repertoire.
The oldest music of all is probably the
ardha, the war dance still performed outside
the Shaikhs’ palaces during the three-day holi­
day which signals the end of the Ramadan month
of fasting. Until recent times the Shaikh
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would dance with his people, sharing in the
rejoicing and the commemoration of old feats
of bravery and ancient triumphs. This
‘warming up’ process is not dissimilar to that
of many other tribal societies, including that of
the ancient Celts.
The instruments used in these performances
are the tara, an open-sided tambourine of goat­
skin held high in the left hand and struck with
the right, rising and falling in time to the
rhythm ; the tabbul, a large wooden drum
slung over the shoulder and played with a stick,
the palm and fingers of the one hand giving a
counter-rhythm to the steady beat of the drum­
stick ; and a small chinking metal disc which is
slid up and down a central stem.
Long lines of men stand facing each other, or
formed into a wide circle, swaying rhythmically
from side to side as they hoarsely alternate the
boasts .and threats that their bards, standing a
little in front of them, chant animatedly at the
opposite side. The musicians stand in the
middle, occasionally dropping out to warm I
their skin instruments at the palmbranch fires,
that are kept going nearby, and by means of
which they tighten the skin and keep the tone.
Circling the drummers and moving in
exaggerated mime are the dancers, re-enacting
the various feints and parries of the warrior,
twirling long .muzzle - loading guns in slow,
controlled movements above their heads. At
intervals they fire these guns into the air with
deafening effect, and in a cloud of smoke sway
rhythmically through the business of reloading
with ball and powder. Among them dance the
swordsmen, their blades held upright, glinting
and flashing as they turn them lightly in time
to the music.
This is the music of the desert warrior, of
that warlike impetus which powered the Arab
expansion. The strong hypnotic beat, the
swaying lines of men, moving in perfect time,
the chants and hand clapping, dust and smoke.
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Tara