Tribal Thursday – I am currently reading The Tribal Bible by Kajira Djoumahna. For our Thursday Tribal fact I am hoping to systematically list a fact each week from something I read in the book until I am through the book. At the very beginning of the book before it gets into history it lists several glossary terms as they are used in the book. For the first couple weeks I will list a few terms as they are defined in the book so that it makes sense as I post later on the history.

First glossary terms:

Ethnic – refers to a representation of a particular ethnic group’s dance style for example Turkish Romani dance would be ethnic dance as would the Egyptian solo dance style “el Raks al Sharki” (“the Dance of the east” in Arabic, This is considered by many to be the “proper” term for what is commonly known, especially in the U.S. as “Cabaret Style Belly Dance”).

Folkloric – refers to the dances of the folk. People of the country side. Dances of the Fellahin (farmers of the Egyptian countryside) would be one example of folkloric dance. These actual folkloric dances can be done by soloists or groups and can be improvised of choreographed depending upon how they are done by the people where it orginated. Folk dances, such as Lebanese Debkes and Balken line dances would fall under this category.