The Al Hajjalah dance of the Al Fayyoum Bedouins: A field study

Our heritage, which is enduring, will remain the first line of defence when we seek to protect our identity and roots from globalization. Folklore contributes to our understanding of culture and social structure.

Folk arts play a significant and influential role in our lives because they are the product of the artist’s feelings, intuition and society. Folk arts are the result of individual attempts to appeal to the group’s conscience; they are the outcome of a society’s experience, a people’s life. Folk arts are the best representation of collective culture and they are used to serve society’s needs.

Folk arts play an important role in building civilisations. Man’s attempts to build civilisations were associated with spontaneous art forms such as the rhythmic movements that became folkdance, an important subject that has been the focus of many studies.
The purpose of this research is to study the folkdances of Al Fayyoum Bedouins, including:
The culture of Al Fayyoum Bedouins
Al Fayyoum Bedouins’ music, songs, costumes and accessories
Their various folk dances
Al Fayyoum is of special interest to those who study Egyptian folklore because it is an outstanding environment that reflects almost all traits of Egyptian society.

Husam Muhasib
Egypt