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UAE: Now, watch 30-year-old documentary on country's traditional art forms

The primary objective of the docu-series — Echoes in Time — was to inform the world about various Emirati dances and poetry

UAE TV personality Maha Gargash and Emirati researcher Khalid Albudoor spent more than two years researching and shooting a docu-series chronicling the traditional music, dance, and poetry of the UAE. Released in 1993 in both English and Arabic, the series titled 'Echoes in Time' became an important piece of the country’s history.

Now, UAE residents can see snippets of the six-part series as part of a temporary installation by Alserkal Avenue at the Etihad Museum. Free for the public, the series is available for viewing in the museum’s media room until January 16, 2025.

During an open evening, Maha and Khalid shared some of the funny moments, challenges and memorable incidents they had during filming the docu-series, originally produced by Dubai Television, between 1987 and 1990.

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“It involved so much work and we often had to convince the performers to do certain things for the documentary,” said Maha. “We had one particular shot for which we lined up several instruments on the top of a sand dune and then we wanted an aerial shot of it. But as the helicopter began descending to take the shot, the instruments began flying in all directions and then we had to run to save them.”

'It became huge'

When the idea of a the documentary first took shape in Khalid’s mind, it was meant to be a very small radio production. However, when he began his research, he found several stories to tell about the relationship of bedouins with the music, poetry and the land. “A whole new world was opened to me,” he said. “Even though I am from Dubai, I discovered things I have never known.”

He also realised that these songs should not be just heard but also visualised. “I felt like people needed to see how they performed these songs, how they used their drums and chanting, how they sang their songs while sitting on the back of a camel,” he said. Even as a TV production, he was hoping for a small documentary. “I was thinking three or five dances and then we will interview some of the performers.”

To bring his idea to visual life, he approached Maha. “To me it was something completely new,” she recalled. “I was unsure. How many drums can we show? It was going to be boring. But when I took it to my boss, he was very excited and said let’s do it.”

When they began shooting the project, it was meant to be small production. However, things began to snowball. “It became huge,” said Maha. “Khalid had said five but we ended up shooting 25 different art forms, each unique in its own way.”

Milestone

The primary objective of the docu-series was to inform the world about various Emirati dances and poetry. One of the art forms shown was the Ayyala dance. “We went into the technicalities of why they used the stick,” said Maha. “They represented the spears. The drums shift like they do to lead into the army into the battle. It was basically the battle cry that became musical and a sort of celebration.”

Khalid said that apart from the Ayyala, there were several dances and songs that they stumbled upon. “In the mountains, you would find songs sung during farming or of war,” he said. “When you go to the religious site, you will songs that praise Prophet Muhammed. There are also dances that came from Africa, there were drums that came from India, some art forms that came from Persia. There were groups who performed these songs and dances as hobbies.”

Khalid began documenting these art forms carefully and preserving whatever information he could find. The docu-series then went on to become one of the best resources in the country to learn about Emirati traditional arts and some parts of it is currently used as training material. “In a centre in Abu Dhabi, clips of our documentary is being used to teach the younger generation about certain art forms,” he said. “The New York University in Abu Dhabi uses it as a reference for cultural studies.”

He also added that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), when they had a convention to preserve the intangible cultural heritage of countries, they approached the duo for snippets from the documentary. “They wanted to preserve the Ayyala and made a video of it using a local group but it was not in their original environment at a wedding,” he said. “So the team approached us and asked us for the documentary to be included in their film.”

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