دبكة

Dabke (Arabic: دبكة also spelled dabka, dabki, dubki, dabkeh, plural dabkaat) is a Levantine folk dance, particularly popular among Lebanese, Jordanian, Palestinian, and Syrian communities. Dabke combines circle dance and line dancing and is widely performed at weddings and other joyous occasions. The line forms from right to left and the leader of the dabke heads the line, alternating between facing the audience and the other dancers. ²

The etymology of 'dabke' is uncertain but is thought to be derived from the Levantine Arabic word dabaka (Arabic: دبكة) meaning "stamping of the feet" or "to make a noise". ²

According to Youssef Ibrahim Yazbec, a Lebanese historian, journalist, and politician, the dabke descends from Phoenician dances thousands of years old. According to Palestinian folklorists Abdul-Latif Barghouthi and Awwad Sa'ud al-'Awwad, the dabke jumps may have originated in ancient Canaanite fertility rituals related to agriculture, chasing off evil spirits and protecting young plants. Another theory is that the stomping part of dabke started out as a way of solidifying roofs made of mud. People would stomp on the rooftops of houses together to help compress the material to compact it to prevent cracks from forming. This eventually evolved into the dancing form of dabke that is known today. ²

Dabke is popular across the Levant, Each type of dabke dance has its own corresponding set of songs, the theme of which is often love there are six main types of dabke: ²

Al-Shamaliyya in Palestine (الشمالية): It consists of a lawweeḥ (لويح) at the head of a group of men holding hands and formed in a semicircle. The lawweeh is expected to be particularly skilled in accuracy, ability to improvise, and quickness (generally light on his feet). Typically, the dabke begins with a musician playing a solo on the mijwiz or yarghoul of a Dal Ouna piece, often with two singers accompanying his music. The dancers develop a synchronized movement and step and when the singers finish their song, the lawweeh breaks from the semicircle to dance on his own. When the leader of the dabke sees that the men's steps are one, in sync, he instructs the dancers to slow down and begin a movement crossing their right foot in front of the opposite one (their left foot). The lawweeh continues to inform the dancers of their basic rhythms, and at this point other guests at the wedding or event occurring will join in the dabke line. This is the most popular and familiar form of dabke danced for happy family celebrations, such as weddings, circumcisions, the return of travelers, release of prisoners, and also for national holidays, in which dabke becomes a demonstration of national personality. It has six measure phrases. Al-Sha’rawiyya (الشعراوية): is limited to men and is characterized by strong steps or stomps. It is one of the simplest types of dabke and very close to the normal one. The lawweeh is the most important element in this type of dabke. ²

There are about twenty types of dabke, including but not limited to: ²

There are numerous kinds of songs that are sung during and specifically for dabke, by both men and women respectively, depending on the occasion, song, and audience. Some of the most popular of these songs, such as Dal Ouna (دلعونا), Al Jafra (الجفرا), Al Daḥiyya (الدحية), and Ẓareef il-Ṭool (ظريف الطول), are actually entire genres in themselves, in the sense that lyrics can vary significantly in each performance but the basic rhythm of the music is consistent and recognizable. This variation can be seen in the hundreds of lyrical variations heard and recorded of these songs which regardless of specific lyrics, are recognized by their rhythm and at times, a single phrase, as in Ala Dal Ouna, Jafra, and others. For example, even though one might have heard Ala Dal Ouna sung previously telling a different story in this famous love song, people will still call another song ascribing to the same rhythm and theme as Dal Ouna. The majority of dabke music, being folk songs, is on maqam Bayati musical mode. ²

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Dabke”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. ²

dabke is A traditional Syrian collective folk dance, performed to the tunes of folk songs at celebrations and weddings, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. ¹

The source record links this tradition to 10 external registers, which can be verified through the citation. ¹