Wein a’Ramallah

After yesterday’s rather conceptual effort, a return to less abstract affair: the weeklong Wein a’Ramallah festival is currently being held. It’s an annual event, and part of the Ramallah Centennial Project (1908-2008). On Thursday evening – the beginning of the weekend here – we went to see the opening night performance, a concert by a group from Acre called Zaman (meaning ‘along time ago’, or in this context perhaps better translated as ‘heritage’). The event, held in an open space (maybe car park) opposite the Ramallah municipality, began late. In this context, this is not a real surprise except this event was being filmed for Palestinian television. I thought television scheduling was more ‘reliable’, but I don’t watch enough to know.

After the host, a young women in traditional Palestinian dress, welcomed us, the national anthem started to blare over the speakers and everyone stood up. This anthem is quite a recent creation, and didn’t inspire the assembled crowds in the ways we saw at the football world cup, or even later in the evening when the ‘national’ songs started. After this, the speeches began. The Mayor of Ramallah, the national Minister of Culture, and the Governor all outlined why culture and art was important for the city/the Palestinian people/the Arab world, and then thanked the sponsors. I noted two things in relation to this part of the event. 1) All the speeches were long and boring. Apparently the Minister for Culture has appalling grammar. 2) All of these dignitaries were women. The Governor – the final speaker – even joked that because they waited for so long to take the reins of power, they had a lot to say, and we had to listen. Everyone laughed at the joke, before being bored for the third and final time.

Then, finally, it was time for Zaman to start playing. They began by playing rhythm while the three guitars were tuned and some feedback issues were sorted out (there was even a roadie with a mullet!).  (The rest of the group consisted of a bassist, a drummer and a guy playing tom toms/tambla). Playing a style I would rather inadequately describe as something like a mix of pop and folk, they covered a series of famous songs. During one number - Rozana – a rotund elderly man took the hand of the mayor and they began to dance in the area in front of the stage. It didn’t take any time at all for about 6 or 7 more senior ladies to jump up to and, much to everyone’s enjoyment, show the assembled masses that they can still move. One of these ladies was particularly spry.  The band seized on the momentum and launched straight into Wein a’Ramallah (Where is Ramallah), the popular song from which the festival takes its name that had everyone clapping and singing along. After a romantic number, a few more popular numbers that got a handful of shabab (young men) on the ‘floor’ doing the almost obligatory and always awkward dubka, and a couple more songs where people started to lose interest, Zaman rounded things off with some ‘national’ songs (described by one friend as ‘about fighting occupation, violence, etc’) and another rendition of Wein a’Ramallah. The quite considerable crowd, which had thinned out a little during the 2 hour concert, left happy and humming.