The Art of Al Azi

It is the art of poetic recitation without intoning or singing, an individual genre performed by a creative poet or a memorising reciter. The Azi poet leads his group, holding his sword and shield, advancing as he recites a poem of pride or praise, shaking his sword in a broad shake at each pause in the recitation — the shake that makes the sword's blade quiver. Behind the poet, a group of men take part as they circle the arena in that closed ring surrounding the poet and his followers, repeating several specific chants in an inherited pattern: a short chant, strong in tone, of one word, "wa salimt" (and you are safe), accompanied — of old — by the firing of rifles, but the participants until now still cock their rifles in an audible, penetrating sound with this chant that follows the first line — usually — of the verse the poet recites. Another chant says "Al mulk lillah yadum" (the kingdom is God's, may it endure), and the participants prolong the letter alif in the word of majesty to emphasise the meaning of the chant and its content, which they also repeat at the end of the verse section the Azi poet declaims. In some wilayas of the interior region, the poet ends his verse section in pride in his people, or their praise, or the praise of his friends and their clans, with the phrase "sibyan kibar al shiyam" (young men of great virtues). There are three types of Azi verse: the first, the Alfiyya; the second, the Adadiyya; and the third type, the Mutlaq. The "Azi" poem usually begins with the name of God to end with prayers and peace upon the Messenger of God. Among the most important purposes of "Azi" verse at present is the praise of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos the Revered, the favours of His Majesty and the achievements of his giving era, full of good and faithfulness. The "Azi" may be preceded or followed by what they call the "Taiyouta" or "Taabita", especially in the wilayas of Al Hamra and Bahla in the interior region, and in Yanqul and Ibri in the Al Dhahirah region, and Al Rustaq in Al Batinah. Al Tariq: one of the Bedouin arts, sung by its performer on the back of the hajin or seated on the ground; two singers share in its performance, where one begins and the other takes up the verse and melody at the end of the line of verse to repeat its performance "an exact copy" of the first singer's. The melody of the performance in the Tariq does not change from the start of the poem to its end, and it is almost constant from one singer to another, and from one wilaya to another. The Tariq singer takes up many purposes of verse in his singing, although most of it is in love poetry and memories, or in praise of his she-camel and extolling her virtues. The "Tariq" is performed during the slow walk of the hajin, and so the rhythm of its singing differs from the singing of the "Taghrood", which used to be performed during the "trot of the nuq". The naming of the art of Tariq differs between the regions of the Sultanate, or its pronunciation: in the Al Batinah and Al Dhahirah regions they call it "Al Radda". As for the difference in pronunciation, it is in the Wilaya of Sur in the Al Sharqiyah region, where they call it "Al Touriq" and pronounce it "Al Tourij".