Folklore

Folklore in Egypt

The Folklore in Egypt is a recopilation of the arts, stories, tales, and legends from ancients. Flowers are a very important part of the ancient Egyptian culture and mythology. Flowers in Egypt still remain a very important part of the country's modern day culture.

Most modern Egyptian folklore is based on tales and thougths transferred from younger generations by narration. They are rarely written down, possibly because the modern Egyptians prefer narration to written texts, and also because most of such tales originate in the rural parts of Egypt where illiteracy is quite common.

There are a lot of dances, these are varied and come from different regions and the source is the oriental dance. One of the most important dance is Fallahi, this word means farmer. This dance uses a light and lively musical rhythm accompanied by songs. Describe the daily work of farming while washing clothes outside the river and gather food baskets and water jugs or pitchers.

Another interesting dance is Hagalla, this name defines a type of music, dance and  rhythm. It is a very quick and easy to dance and this type of dance was really common in the gypsy that went with their nomadic caravans crossing the desert camp to camp, to entertain with music and dancing desert people.

Music

The Ancient Egyptians enjoyed life to its fullest and no celebration in Ancient Egypt would have been complete without music and dancing. At parties, singers and dancers performed to the music of harps, lutes, drums, flutes, cymbals, clappers and tambourines. During festivals, crowds chanted and clapped, carried along by the vibrant rhythm of Egyptian orchestras, while dancers performed amazing feats, leaping twirling and bending their bodies in time with the music

Egyptian music throughout history has blended indigenous ancient Egyptian traditions with African, Arab, Turkish and Western elements. Diverse music genres have derived from these influences, each of which is characterized by a particular lawn (colour). The music genres found in Egypt are interconnected and have impermeable borders through which a constant flow takes place from one genre to the other. For example, an Egyptian qanun player may perfom for a small gathering of music lovers, be a member of a radio ensemble and play in night clubs in Cairo or London. An accordion might accompany a classical orchestra and the next day play at a baladi wedding in the streets of Cairo. Keeping this special situation in Egypt in mind, we can today distinguish 6 different genres:

• Egyptian shaabi or folk music traditions
• Egyptian religious music traditions
• Egyptian baladi or urban folk music tradition
• Arab/Egyptian art music
• Egyptian film music
• Egyptian pop music