The “Saudi Trouq” program has launched the 3rd field tour of its methodical program aimed at preserving the kingdom’s musical and performative folklore, protecting its artistic heritage, and documenting them.
These efforts are aimed at motivating researchers and artists to study this heritage, and profit from its cultural and humanitarian value.
“Saudi Trouq” is the largest methodical documentation program targeting musical and performative heritage. It was launched by the Saudi Music Commission and the Theater and Performing Arts Commission in mid-2021, and its set to run until 2027.
The Saudi Music Commission and the Theater and Performing Arts Commission started their field tours to map the folkloric musical and performative genres through the “Trouq” program in Makkah before moving to southern Saudi Arabia, in Asir, where a team of 10 researchers mapped the folkloric genres in several interior provinces.
The commissions have recently launched the third phase from Al-Bahah Province, a new tour in which the local community will contribute to preserving its artistic folklore as a witness on values and authenticity.
The “Saudi Trouq” team has urged the local community and those interested in the heritage of Saudi Arabia to take part in the documentation efforts in all regions.
Khalil Arab, owner of a popular museum who’s interested in culture, said the vast geographical area of Saudi Arabia, and its long-neglected rich and diverse artistic heritage, require concentrated and doubled efforts to track and revive this folklore and its hidden parts, and to reactivate the artistic, heritage, and folkloric genres that the country knew throughout its prestigious social history.
The program has used the culture ministry’s UNESCO-inspired “cultural archive” approach, according to which the research team meet the local communities, individuals interested in heritage, folklore practitioners, music instruments makers, historians and experts, to map the folklore genres before the next phase, which will run for over almost 10 months.
In the upcoming phase, the folkloric genres will be documented with high-end production techniques in the form of videos, audios, podcasts, and performance recordings, in addition to producing documentaries that highlight the prestigious heritage, and specialized visual and audio materials that can be used by researchers in their studies, or by artists in their musical, theatrical, and performative works.
