For the past 21 years the government of Saudi Arabia has been sponsoring the annual Janadriya Heritage Festival, a two week cultural event featuring regional artisans, food, costumes, architecture, wedding rituals, and traditional music and dance. The festival, normally held between November and March when the heat is less extreme, takes place at a large center built specifically for the event about 45 kilometers north of Riyadh. The Janadriya village is laid out as a mini replica of the Kingdom, thus visitors walk along an area representing the Hijaz western coast viewing the folk life and exhibits from Hijazi locales, and then one can move to the southern Jizan or into the central Najd and on to the eastern province. Each major vicinity will have at least one main structure—a building, a house, a tent—with regional architecture or decorative styles. There is also a large Saudi Airline exhibition and a new general museum hall comprised of room models from traditional houses. In the center of the “Kingdom” unsanctioned vendors sit on the ground haphazardly with wares before them, selling hand drums, toys, novelty items, and straw hats for the harsh mid-day sun.

In gender segregated Saudi Arabia, men are invited to attend the festival for the first 8-10 days then it is closed for a day or two in preparation for women-only days of which there are usually three. As an ethnomusicologist specializing in Arabian Peninsula music I visited the women’s Janadriya festivities in early March 2006 via an invitation by the Saudi government. On the first women’s day, invited guests included a handful of professors like myself (although I was the only non-Saudi professor), and notable women of the community, such as the wives of ambassadors and various members of the royal family. All were welcomed to the opening ceremony, which included a staged performance by high-school girls in an on-site auditorium that seated around 1000. The guest of honor was H.R.H. Princess Nouf Bint Abdul Aziz, the daughter of the first king of Saudi Arabia and the sister of the current king, Abdullah. King Abdullah’s wife Queen Hussa Al-Shaalan was also in attendance. On the subsequent days I was the only regular guest, attending each day from before opening till after closing.

Although the main goal of the festival is to share the folk heritage of the Kingdom, Janadriya actually serves another purpose: it provides a longed-for venue where women can mingle and interact in public. Women in Saudi Arabia, especially from the central Najd region (as were most of these visitors), are largely restricted to the home. The main social activity is to attend female wedding and engagement parties, but such occur in the evening and are by invitation only, so they still have a private nature. The Janadriya Festival is an event where one can venture outdoors during the daytime, be among women from many different tribes and families, sit and lunch with friends and relatives publicly without male chaperones. And of course it is a real treat to observe Arabian craftspeople, hear musicians, and visit the exhibits.

Thus, each day thousands of women flocked to the festival, which opened around 11 am when the heat was entering its peak. Regardless of the almost unbearable temperature, almost all were dressed in full abaya (cloak) with hijab (head scarf) and niqab (face veil). There is some variety in the way women cloak themselves in the Kingdom: in the austere Najd, head-to-toe pure unadorned black covering is prescribed. Although some women would remove their scarves or abayas when they entered an exhibit area, almost all stayed completely covered while outdoors. Obviously, women felt somewhat restricted because of the several dozen of men present, albeit they were hardly visible among the mass of females. The males were maintenance workers, street cleaners, craftsmen and shop clerks assigned to certain areas, and mutawwa, i.e., religious police. The mutawwa were guarding the entrances, checking for appropriate dress and contraband, like cameras. I saw a few western women enter the festival wearing black abayas but no headscarves. A mutawwa shouted at them, “Cover your head women! You are in Saudi Arabia!”

So large crowds of figures in black scrambled to the doors of the various heritage buildings and tents, hoping to enter if just to escape the merciless sun. The exhibits opened discriminately and when the general public was welcomed, usually in large groups, visitors had 10-15 minutes to view the displays and watch a short live music-dance performance. The most popular areas by far were the large Medinah party tent and souk (marketplace), and the Jizan edifice that included a replica of a straw Jizan hut. Medinah and Jizan both lie along the western Red Sea coast of the Kingdom. As a pilgrimage center for centuries Medinah, the home of the Prophet Mohammed, has been exposed to many foreign cultures and thus has developed a colorful blend of traditions, replete with unique dress, lavish wedding costumes, flavorful food, and a large variety of local music that is enjoyed by people throughout the country. During the day the Medinah tent, which seated well over a hundred guests, was extremely hot, having no air conditioning, but such did not dissuade the visitors. All were spirited and guests regularly danced alongside the festival workers who were dressed in traditional costumes, demonstrating regional steps and wedding processions. The neighboring Medinah souk was the main marketplace of the festival. This too was highly populated however, with no crowd control, the souk often became a chaotic sea of women in black, making it all too easy to lose one’s companions.

The Jizan is less familiar to the many Najdi visitors, but its displays and performances were nonetheless well visited. Jizan is the most verdant region of the Kingdom, the home of frankincense, myrrh, mango and bananas plants, a variety of seafood, bright woven crafts, unusual chest drums (ga’ab), and robust Africanesque dances. The Saudi government is promoting the Jizan as a hub for national tourism.

Along with the western coastal exhibits, those of the Najd were also popular. These included food stalls with authentic cooks and a 3-sided camelhair tent with musicians and public dancing. A crowd was constantly found in the replica house from Qaseem. Although Qaseem is the most pious city of the Najd, the house’s courtyard was animated with musicians and dancing visitors. There was little interest in, and not that much representing, the eastern province. Eastern Arabian culture is closely tied to that of Kuwait and Bahrain, and for many at the festival, this region is not as intriguing and usually not considered traditional “Saudi.”

My objective at the festival was to interview the musicians, listen to and notate some provincial styles, observe the cultural environment. Each large locale had a group of female performers who sang collectively and played hand drums (in Arabia folk musicians usually use no melodic instruments as they are frowned upon by Wahhabism/Salafism). At this event, there were about five women in each ensemble and as is typical, most musicians were related to one another and were of African or Yemeni descent. Such is common in GCC countries where historically it has been an anathema for a Muslim woman of local ancestry to be a professional musician. Indeed, music itself is often considered haraam or sinful by many in Saudi Arabia.

Nevertheless, music is greatly appreciated and as I was intently listening to each ensemble, someone would invariably pull my pen and notebook from my hands and insist that I dance, enjoy the music, not study it. Such is a manifestation of the famous Arabian hospitality that was evident throughout the festival. To be a gracious guest in turn one must eat when offered food and dance when invited—both of which I was compelled to do many times. Of course, it was quite a novelty to see a westerner dancing, especially in Saudi style, and at least one young woman could not resist taking a picture of the spectacle. Her expensive mobile phone/camera was immediately confiscated since photographs at women’s events are forbidden.

The festival organizers took great pride in having each province maintain an authentic folk character, but there were slight modifications. For instance, this was the first year musicians used microphones. Also, although the singers were flown in from all over the Kingdom, I observed that they were sometimes playing non-regional drums, as in the Qaseem house where the large bass Egyptian dohalla was included. Likewise, some pieces were not necessarily regionally representative. I first noticed this in the Baha building. Baha is a remote town in the western mountains south of Jeddah, secreted by a frequent thick and difficult fog. Not many are familiar with Baha folk songs. So I was taken aback when, expecting to hear the unique Baha sound, the musicians instead opened their performance with pop-style Arabian pieces. When asked, they confessed that they thought the audience would better enjoy the popular works. Nevertheless, the Baha group, like all the ensembles, were quite knowledgeable and when I specifically requested regional songs, the musicians happily played them with great skill, often in both male and female styles. What is of note is that the musicians were, like the visitors, viewing the festival as more than the sharing of isolated customs. They were sensitive to their audience who did indeed take great pleasure in hearing and dancing to familiar songs in this unique public setting.

From all accounts, women’s days of Janadriya were, and have been in the past, extremely successful. This is partially because the event has a dual function: preserving important cultural traditions and providing a social outlet. In Saudi Arabia there are few public activities for females, no movie theaters, restaurants are segregated, women do not drive, they normally cannot attend concerts, large sporting events, or most national celebrations. So the Janadriya festival offers an extraordinary venue, one where women can interact publicly, enjoy one another’s company, all the while learning about their important native heritage.

Lisa Urkevich, Ph.D., is a professor of ethnomusicology/musicology and Division Head of Humanities and Arts at the American University of Kuwait. She has lived in and undertaken fieldwork in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and other Gulf States at various times for more than 7 years. www.urkevich.com

Photos

1. A few of the buildings of the Janadriya heritage village from outside the compound, Asiri architecture. Photo: Saudi Ministry of Information
2. A Craftsman from the Asir region. Saudi Ministry of Information
3. A row of regional artisans at the festival. Photo: Saudi Ministry of Information.
4. Al-Ghazafi male dance of Jizan. At the festival this dance was demonstrated by young women. Photo: Saudi Ministry of Information
5. murdah, smaller version of the ga’ab spoked drum of the Jizan. Photo: S. Skaggs
6. Umm Shugaa, a weaver of Qaseem singing a song at the 2006 Janadriya Festival, Photo: Arab News, Ebtihal Mubarak