N is for...Nourhanne... and... Nasri... and... Nomads...

is for

Nourhanne

is a singer from Lebanon, with Min Zaman, a pop number:  

Welcome back everyone after the big weekend, hope you have had a great time relaxing or catching up, and those celebrating Easter have had a great and fulfilling Easter Sunday. My weekend sped by before I had time to draw breath, this whole A-Z is flashing past at a break neck speed somehow. Anyways…

N is also for Assalah Nasri, a Syrian singer based out of Egypt, whose music leans towards traditional Arabic. She has been granted Bahraini nationality after she performed here in Bahrain for the National Day celebrations. Here is one of her shorter songs. (Traditional Arabic songs are long!)

Nomads

The very word ‘Arab’ is etymologically rooted in words like passer-by, nomad, moving around in the various Semitic languages. Think of an Arab and the image that floats into mind is a man in a chequered headgear riding a camel over miles of inhospitable dunes.

Jebeliya Bedouin and camels.  At the foot of Jebel Moussa, Mt
Moses, the mountain of the Decalogue. St Catherine, Egypt.

Arabia had been completely underplayed in the story of human migrations out of Africa…we’re transforming the prehistory of Arabia. ~ Michael Petraglia, Director, Paleodesert Project. 

There is now evidence that Arabia was the first stop when Man initially migrated out of Africa.  Several archaeological sites in Oman, Saudi Arabia and UAE have been identified. And some dated to more than 100,000 years.

Geneticists have shown that the modern human family tree began to branch out 60,000 years ago. I’m not questioning when it happened, but where. I suggest the great modern human expansion to the rest of the world was launched from Arabia rather than Africa. ~ Jeffrey Rose, Director, Dhofar Archaeological Project. 

Arabia wasn’t always a desert, it was once a lush, green land with flowing rivers - archeological evidence shows that hippos, elephants, big cats roamed across a savannah like terrain in what is now a formidably arid desert. 

The taxation of caravans and transport of goods 
and people were historical occupations.  Bedouin 
man. Wadi Rum. Jordan.  

So, if that’s the case it automatically begs the question – why didn’t the hunting-gathering populations that came out of Africa stay put in Arabia? What made the Arabs wander? Why were they nomads? 

The answer to that lies in the nature of Arabian climate change. It happened in cycles over many years, alternating between aridity and lushness. And these cycles of life-sustaining greenery and barrenness must be responsible for nomadism in the Arabian peninsula - when things got tough, the tough tribes broke camp and got going. 

Traditionally, Bedouins have raised goats and sheep in addition
to camels. A Bedouin flock crossing somewhere in Sinai. Egypt. 

The nomads in Arablands, generally known as Bedouins (from Bedu in Arabic) range from Oman in the south to Syria in the north, and from Egypt to Morocco in North Africa.  Camel, sheep and goat herding were their livelihood traditionally, and remains important even today.  Over the years, most Bedouins have been settled into purpose–built villages. Many of them work as guides or in other capacities in the tourism sector.

In most countries of the Middle East, they have no title to the lands, only the right to use.  The governments see the land traditionally used by the Bedouins as state property to be developed for the tourism sector, as for example in Egypt.  Predictably this has meant their lands shrinking and a resulting spike in unemployment, poverty and crime.

Bedouin guide in the White Desert, Egypt.
Many Bedouins are now settled in villages in
the desert and serve as tour guides.

They have their own laws and social customs and settle their disputes without recourse to the courts. It was considered completely inappropriate for Bedouins to marry ‘city-dwellers’ from outside the tribes, but it’s no longer unheard of, even if unacceptable.

A Bedouin woman's wealth is in her jewellery, traditionally made of silver and given when she gets married. Some of the designs have been handed down unchanged for thousands of years. However, individual antique pieces are rare, because once a woman dies, her jewellery is not handed down, that's considered unlucky - a bride must have new jewellery custom-made for her - so the dead lady's stuff is resold to the silversmiths who promptly melt it down.



Did you know - Lotfia el Nadi, an Egyptian, was the first female Arab pilot, she received her aviation licence in 1933 at the age of 25 and was the second woman to fly an aircraft solo after Amelia Earhart. The two women were friends and correspondents.

Posted for the A-Z Challenge 2017