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Nubian music consisted in the beginning of a
kind of poem, shar, composed using only five musical notes
(Pentatonic rythm) and inspired from the war sounds of the
Pharahos during the Ancient and Middle Kingdoms. The most used
instruments were the tar, a kind of drum, the tambour, the
daraboukka and the qirba, similar to a bagpipe. An important
occasion for singing and dancing was, as said, the wedding
party, which was accompanied by a background of music,
ululation, clapping, drums, etc. Many dances were also
performed during the seasons of sowing and harvest with the
auspices of prosperity and plentiful crops. The music and songs
of the modern Nubians have been very commercialized. They use
the old Nubian melody with Arabic words . The Nile is an
important component of the Nubian ( identity) so Nubian dances
mimic the movement of the water in the Nile |
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 The traditional instruments featured, which are
used to accompany Nubian song and dance, include the 'ud
(fretless, short-necked lute), tabla (or tabalah, single–headed
tapered drum) and tar (or duff, round framedrum). The typical
song style is based on alternation of a solo singer with a
chorus. Both song and dance are often accompanied by intricate
patterns of hand–clapping and foot-stomping. Wedding
celebrations, which can last up to a week, are the main social
setting for performing traditional Nubian music and dance.
The distinguished and soft rhythms of the Nubian music and songs
are borrowed by other ethnical groups in Sudan. In Egypt these
rhythms are commonly used by some Egyptian-Nubian who sing in
Arabic. With its very distinctive chantings and intonation the
Nubian songs and music has a noticeable acclamation and
acceptance among non-Nubian Sudanese and Egyptians.
Folk Dance in Nubia
The Nubians adore collective rather than individual dancing. It
has a significant social function.s. Women participate with men
in collective dancing usually in wedding ceremonies. Dancing is
usually accompanied by group signing. To the Nubians, dancing
and signing are a source of enjoyment, entertainment and social
participation
To the Fadija tribes, al-Arageed dances are performed on
weddings to celebrate the groom. This dance has a significant
function. In this dance, participants (boys, girls and
tambourine players) stand in a rectangular formations, where
boys stand in a row facing girls, with the tambourine players on
the third side. While young men stand in one row, girls and
women stand in seperate, opposite rows one after the other
arranged as follows: unmarried girls stand in the first row
followed by newly married women, then middle-aged women and so
forth until the last row where old women stand. This arrangement
gives boys the opportunity to choose future wives from among
these girls who are adorned with the most expensive jewelry for
this occasion. With this elaborate layout, the Arageed dance
starts on the stimulating and lively beats of the Kounbun Kash
tambourine. Attracted by the sound of tambourines, families
flock in the wedding ceremony place. Young men, young girls as
well as old men and women, each category with their counterparts
are all there. Hand in hand and shoulder to shoulder they dance
and sing in chorus. As for the Kanuz, women dance in individual
formations, and engage in collective singing (chorus).
Despite efforts to survive or revive their culture, at this
present point in the epic history of the Nubians, when their
ancestral land is lost, and when their language is no longer the
medium of either their religion or their government, music may
in fact prove to be the best means for preserving something of
the ethos of Nubian culture, and for adapting it to further
changes in the future
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