Festival of Light and Art 'Noor Riyadh 2023' Returns November 30

Noor Riyadh festival in previous editions won eight Guinness World Records - SPA
Noor Riyadh festival in previous editions won eight Guinness World Records - SPA
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Festival of Light and Art 'Noor Riyadh 2023' Returns November 30

Noor Riyadh festival in previous editions won eight Guinness World Records - SPA
Noor Riyadh festival in previous editions won eight Guinness World Records - SPA

Noor Riyadh 2023, the largest lights and art festival in the world, announced the official launch of the ticket platform for visitors, which returns in its third edition under the slogan “The Bright Side of the Desert Moon” under the supervision of lead artistic curator Jérôme Sans (Lead Curator), and curators Pedro Alonzo, Alaa Tarabzouni, and Fahad bin Naif.

The celebration includes more than 120 artworks introduced by more than 100 artists from more than 35 countries, including 35 from the Kingdom.

The event is held in this year in partnership with the Ministry of Culture, the King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD), and the JAX District as celebration partners, in addition to the Kingdom Center and Al Khozama Investment Company as official partners, the Saudi Research and Media Group (SRMG) as a media partner, the Misk Art Institute as a program partner.

Nova, the Rouh El Saudia, the King Fahd National Library (KFNL), Via Riyadh, and Digital City are supporting partners, and AlTanfeethi is a hospitality partner, SPA reported.

Noor Riyadh festival director Nouf AlMoneef said this year's event is presented in a different and unique formula, inviting all visitors from all over the world to experience fun and amazing experiences in five centers in the capital, which include creative artistic works, in addition to hosting various dialogues and workshops.
She pointed out that the Noor Riyadh festival in previous editions won eight Guinness World Records, including the largest festival of lights in the world, where the number of visitors hit more than 2.8 million people.
This year, we look forward to welcoming art lovers and all members of society in an edition distinguished by its experiences and its various artistic activities, she added.
The Noor Riyadh festival includes 44 dialogue sessions, 122 workshops, 13 creative experiments, more than 1,000 guided tours, and more than 100 activities for families. Visitors can access all the events and reserve tickets allocated to all centers for free through the official website of Riyadh Art www.riyadhart.sa



Jungle Music: Chimp Drumming Reveals Building Blocks of Human Rhythm

In this photo provided by researchers, a wild male chimpanzee produces a pant-hoot call to elicit a response from distant group members and reunite with them in the Budongo Forest of Uganda in June 2016. (Adrian Soldati via AP)
In this photo provided by researchers, a wild male chimpanzee produces a pant-hoot call to elicit a response from distant group members and reunite with them in the Budongo Forest of Uganda in June 2016. (Adrian Soldati via AP)
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Jungle Music: Chimp Drumming Reveals Building Blocks of Human Rhythm

In this photo provided by researchers, a wild male chimpanzee produces a pant-hoot call to elicit a response from distant group members and reunite with them in the Budongo Forest of Uganda in June 2016. (Adrian Soldati via AP)
In this photo provided by researchers, a wild male chimpanzee produces a pant-hoot call to elicit a response from distant group members and reunite with them in the Budongo Forest of Uganda in June 2016. (Adrian Soldati via AP)

Like humans, chimpanzees drum with distinct rhythms - and two subspecies living on opposite sides of Africa have their own signature styles, according to a study published in Current Biology.

Previous work showed chimpanzees pound the huge flared buttress roots of rainforest trees to broadcast low‑frequency booms through dense foliage.

The idea that ape drumming might hold clues to the origins of human musicality has long fascinated scientists, but collecting enough clean data amid the cacophony of the jungle had, until now, proven elusive.

“Finally we've been able to quantify that chimps drum rhythmically - they don't just randomly drum,” lead author Vesta Eleuteri of the University of Vienna told AFP.

The findings lend fresh weight to the theory that the raw ingredients of human music were present before our evolutionary split from chimpanzees six million years ago.

For the new study, Eleuteri and colleagues - including senior authors Catherine Hobaiter of the University of St Andrews in the UK and Andrea Ravignani of Sapienza University in Rome - compiled more than a century's worth of observational data.

After cutting through the noise, the team focused on 371 high-quality drumming bouts recorded from 11 chimpanzee communities across six populations living in both rainforest and savannah-woodland habitats across eastern and western Africa.

Their analysis showed that chimpanzees drum with definitive rhythmic intent - the timing of their strikes is not random.

Distinct differences also emerged between subspecies: western chimpanzees tended to produce more evenly timed beats, while eastern chimpanzees more frequently alternated between shorter and longer intervals.

Western chimps also drummed more frequently, kept a quicker tempo, and began drumming earlier in their signature chimp calls, made up of rapid pants and hoots.

The researchers do not yet know what is driving the differences - but they propose that it might signify differences in social dynamics.

The western chimps' faster, predictable pulse might promote or be evidence of greater social cohesion, the authors argue, noting that western groups are generally less aggressive toward outsiders.

By contrast, the eastern apes' variable rhythms could carry extra nuance - handy for locating or signaling companions when their parties are more widely dispersed.

Next, Hobaiter says she would like to study the data further to understand whether there are intergenerational differences between rhythms within the same groups.

“Music is not only a difference between different musical styles, but a musical style like rock or jazz, is itself going to evolve over time,” she said.

“We're actually going to have to find a way to tease apart group and intergenerational differences to get at that question of whether or not it is socially learned,” she said. “Do you have one guy that comes in with a new style and the next generation picks it up?”