At one stage the dancers form a tower, four men high and on top is the singer Naser Al Fares. The bridegroom, for whom all this is being done, is on the raised platform as well, and before they finish their performance, each member of the Dubke group stand in front of him close up and do their own dance for him. They are literally shaking trembling with the feeling of it all. Then the troup dance off the platform and out of the square. The music slows into a drone and Naser Al Fares gives an improvised praise song (long chords on the keyboards and the oud, his voice weaves beautifully melodically), a praise song in honour of the bridegroom, the family, Abu Dis and Palestine. The crowd shows its appreciation by clapping and cheering.
The music the band has been playing for the Dubke group has the rhythm I have heard before but has some modernist elements, some free-form riffs on the oud almost jazz like, but now another Dubke group runs on, and this group is more traditional. They are not dressed in elaborate silk shirts and kaffiyehs. They are dressed in what looks like traditional peasant smocks. And the music at this point is also more traditional. It reminds me of Greek or East European (Romanian, Macedonian) folk music, even a little bit like Irish. This must be an older more traditional form of Dubke. The leader of the group is holding a stick which he uses to direct the group. You can see the origins of this dance in folk music, peasant music.
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