Samri

Saudi Arabia · 1800s

Dancing Happy Sentimental Romantic Chill

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Description

Samri is a traditional Najdi (central Saudi) folk music and dance form built around sung Nabati poetry, frame-drum rhythms, and antiphonal choral responses.

It is typically performed by men seated or standing in two facing rows who clap in intricate patterns while a daff/duff (frame drum) sets a steady groove; the voices carry melodic lines in Arabic maqamat such as Bayat, Hijaz, or Kurd.

Samri is common at weddings, community celebrations, and poetry gatherings across central and eastern Saudi Arabia and parts of the wider Gulf, where its catchy two-beat swing and poetic refrains invite participatory singing and movement.

Sources: Spotify, Wikipedia, Discogs, Rate Your Music, MusicBrainz, and other online sources

History

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Arabie Saoudite: Musique de 'Unayzah, Ancienne Cité de Najd / Saudi Arabia: Music of 'Unayzah, an Old City of the Najd

سامريات

Suleiman al- Khashti سليمان الخشتي

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Influenced by

Arabic Folk Music

Arabic folk music is an umbrella for the rural and community-based song, dance, and instrumental traditions of Arabic-speaking societies across North Africa, the Levant, the Arabian Peninsula, and the Nile Valley. It centers on modal melodies (maqām), cyclical rhythms (īqāʿāt), and expressive vocalism (mawwāl, zajal, layālī) delivered with microtonal ornamentation and call-and-response refrains. Typical instruments include the oud, qanun, nay, rabab, simsimiyya, mijwiz, kawala, mizmar/zoorna, and an array of frame and goblet drums (riqq, daff, tabla/darbuka). While strongly local and vernacular, these styles have long interacted with courtly/classical practices, Sufi devotional repertoires, and festive dance forms, producing regionally distinct idioms such as Saʿīdi tunes in Upper Egypt, Bedouin songs of the Arabian deserts, Levantine dabke songs, and Maghrebi folk repertories. Today, Arabic folk persists in weddings, seasonal festivities, processions, work songs, and community performance, and it continues to supply rhythms, modes, and stories to modern pop, shaabi, and diasporic fusions.

Bedouin Music

Bedouin music is the traditional music of nomadic Arab tribes of the Arabian Peninsula and adjoining deserts of the Levant and Sinai. It is a poetry-centered, orally transmitted practice that accompanies daily life—herding, travel, celebrations, and communal dances—and expresses themes of landscape, lineage, honor, love, and longing. Musically it is predominantly monophonic or lightly heterophonic, built on Arabic maqām melodic modes (such as Ḥijāz, Rāst, and Bayāt) with rich melisma and microtonal inflection. Vocal performance alternates between solo declamation and call-and-response choruses, often supported by the spike fiddle rabābah, frame drums (daff/ṭār), small barrel drums, and, in some regions, the oud and reed pipes (mijwīz, arghūl, ney). Signature forms include chanted camel-driver songs (taghrūda), male chorus-and-drum line dances like ayyālah, and Najdi/Gulf samrī songs. While localized across many tribes and territories, Bedouin music shares a common aesthetic of direct, emotive vocal delivery, tightly patterned percussion, and poetic performance (notably in Nabati verse) that pre-dates Islam yet has coexisted with Islamic devotional sound practices for centuries.

Arabic Music

Arabic music is the modal, largely non-harmonic art and folk music tradition of Arabic-speaking societies across the Middle East and North Africa. It is centered on the maqam system (a constellation of scales, characteristic melodic phrases, and modulation pathways) and the iqa'at cycle-based rhythmic system. Its sound is defined by microtonal intervals (often featuring neutral seconds and micro-inflected pitches rather than equal-tempered quarter-tones), expressive melismas, and a heterophonic ensemble texture in which multiple instruments ornament the same melody simultaneously. Core instruments include the oud, qanun, nay, violin/kamanja, riqq, and darbuka/tabla, with larger firqa (orchestral) lineups common in 20th‑century Cairo. The tradition values poetic text-setting, extended improvisation (taqsim and layali), and the affective aesthetic of tarab—intense musical ecstasy and emotional transport.

Arabic Classical Music

Arabic classical music is the art-music tradition of the Arabic-speaking world, built on the modal system of maqam and cyclical rhythmic modes called iqaʿat. It prioritizes ornate melody, nuanced intonation (including microtonal intervals), heterophonic ensemble texture, and a balance between composed forms and improvisation (taqsim). Core forms include the samaʿi (often in 10/8), longa (2/4), dulab (short prelude), muwashshah (strophic song), and the wasla (a multi-movement suite). The aesthetic of tarab—emotional ecstasy and deep musical rapture—guides performance and listening. Typical instruments include the ʿūd (fretless lute), qānūn (plucked zither), nay (end-blown flute), violin/kamanja, riqq (tambourine), and darbuka/tabla, often assembled as a takht (chamber ensemble) or, in later periods, the larger firqa (orchestra).

Has influenced

Khaleeji

Khaleeji (Khaliji) is the contemporary popular music of the Arabian Gulf, spanning Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman. It blends deep-rooted Gulf rhythmic traditions and poetic forms with modern pop arrangement, creating a distinctly percussive, melodic, and danceable sound. Core characteristics include driving hand-drum grooves (mirwās, tabl, riqq), ornate vocal lines grounded in the Arabic maqam system (often Bayātī, Rāst, Ḥijāz, and Nahāwand), and Gulf-dialect (Nabaṭī) lyrics that balance romantic themes with imagery of desert, sea, and kinship. Since the 1980s, synthesizers, drum machines, and lush string pads have joined oud, violin, and qanun, giving Khaleeji its sleek pop sheen while preserving its rhythmic identity (samri and khaleegy dance rhythms). The result is a style that feels both traditional and modern: celebratory and suited to social dancing, yet melodically expressive and lyrically intimate.

Arabic Pop

Arabic pop is the mainstream, commercial song style of the Arabic‑speaking world, blending Western pop structures with Arabic melodic modes (maqām) and regional rhythmic cycles (iqa‘āt). Arrangements typically pair traditional instruments like the oud, qanun, nay, strings, and darbuka with electric guitar/bass, keyboards, drum machines, and modern synthesizers. Vocals are highly ornamented (melisma, trills, turns) and delivered in widely understood dialects such as Egyptian and Levantine, as well as Khaliji and Maghrebi Arabic. Songs favor verse–pre‑chorus–chorus forms with catchy hooks, glossy production, and video‑forward presentation. Lyrically, themes of romance, longing, celebration, and everyday life dominate, spanning intimate ballads to up‑tempo dance anthems.

Sawt

Sawt (Arabic: صوت) is an urban Gulf song tradition that crystallized in Kuwait and Bahrain at the turn of the 20th century. It is typically performed in intimate majlis settings by a lead singer accompanied by oud, the small frame drum mirwās, handclaps, and often violin. Musically, sawt draws on the maqām system (modal scales such as Rast, Bayāt, and Ḥijāz), features short instrumental taqsīm (improvisations) and cyclic rhythms, and sets Arabic poetic couplets (ghazal and Nabati verse) to song. The performance balances refined modal melody with driving, syncopated Gulf handclap patterns, producing a sound that is both contemplative and dance-inducing. Culturally, sawt became a hallmark of early 20th‑century port cities on the Persian/Arabian Gulf, reflecting Indian Ocean trade routes: Iraqi and Persian melodic aesthetics, local Bedouin/Najdi poetic practice, and lively social gatherings specific to the coastal Gulf.

Shilla

Shilla (often written as sheila or sheilat in transliteration) is a Gulf Arab vocal-chant style that emphasizes the human voice, poetic delivery, and percussive drive over melodic instruments. Traditionally performed by male soloists or small choruses, it relies on handclaps and frame drums (daff/tabl) and frequently abstains from melodic instruments altogether. Texts are drawn from Nabati and tribal poetry, with themes that include pride, praise, weddings, communal identity, and occasionally religious or patriotic sentiment. Melodically, performers move within familiar Arabic maqam contours (especially Bayati, Hijaz, and Rast), while rhythmically they draw on Najdi and broader Khaleeji grooves in measured, chant-like patterns. In the 2000s and 2010s, Shilla evolved alongside digital platforms, adopting studio layering, crowd-like overdubs, autotune as a vocal color, and sub-bass reinforcement, all while preserving its core identity as percussion-and-voice-centered Gulf chant.

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