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Conservative social code saps the spirit of Gaza's Nawar performers
GAZA CITY: Seated on her doorstep in Gaza City, Narem puffs discontentedly on a cigarette, then sighs: "We used to be dancers and singers. Now we are nothing." In Europe, they are called Gypsies or Roma. In Gaza, they are called the Nawar, a people with an ancestral tradition of song and dance who have been scattered for centuries throughout the Middle East.But here, the rise of Islamist doctrine that accompanied the start of the second Palestinian uprising six years ago has sounded the death knoll for the Nawar way of life, pushed them into begging and rendered them second-class citizens in a society regulated more and more by rigid rules. "Our life was among the best. We wore the most beautiful dresses, we ate the best dishes. We sang Umm Kalthum, Abdel-Halim Hafez during marriages and celebrations. We were free," says Narem, 35, quickly throwing a scarf to cover her dark, flowing hair whenever a car passes. "We didn't learn in schools, but in the home. With us, you begin to sing and dance while still a child," she says. "My mother danced, my grandmother before her and my great-grandmother also." For decades, the Nawar wandered from city to town in the Gaza Strip and the wider Middle East, showing off their singing and dancing. But the eruption of the second Palestinian uprising in September 2000, led by Hamas, changed all that. "The extremists burned and closed all the clubs. They said it was haram, forbidden that girls dance and sing," Abu Mohammed says, dressed in his worn, faded long robe. "Our ancient life has vanished into thin air and it will not come back." After the start of the second intifada, cinemas in Gaza were shut or burned down, sale of alcohol banned, bathing suits replaced by long-sleeved shirts and pants, and Nawar performances no longer welcomed. "What can we do now, fly away? No, so we beg in the bazaars," says Narem, saddened by the happy memories. Despite the difficulties, the Nawar do not want to leave. They have been on this land for centuries and consider it their home. ... then they came for the Gypsies, so I posted this article at Rantburg ... Posted by: mrp 2006-10-29 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=170142 |