Wikala of Al Ghuri and the Tanoora dance Show
The Wikala was built in 1504 by Sultan Qunsuwah Al Ghuri as a place for traders worldwide to stay and trade. The rectangular building consists of four stores, each with 28 rooms. Traders from every African country used to come to this Wikala for weeks. They stayed on one of the upper floors while their animals and goods were stored in the rooms on the ground floor. The Wikala of Al Ghuri is one of Egypt's best-preserved examples of Islamic architecture.
I visited the Wikala and found many tourists from different nationalities waiting at the Wikala gate for the show's start. I asked the man at the door, and he told me the show would start in 15 minutes, and I would have to wait for my turn to enter. I started looking around, exploring the people waiting to enter the show. Most of the tourists were French, and they are famous among us in the tourism industry for being interested in the culture of the countries they visit.
Other tourists came from Europe, the United States, and Asia. This was in addition to the many Egyptians who went to the Wikala to enjoy the Tanoora dance show.
This was an excellent chance to explore the complex, as it was my first time visiting the Wikala of Al Ghuri. I went and took a look inside the rooms surrounding the open-air Sahn in the Wikala. In each room, fabulous paintings showed different styles of Tanoora dancing. Some of these paintings were realistic, while others were abstract.
When I returned to my seat, I found out that most seats were full of people from different nationalities. An older man sat next to me and started talking to me without hesitation, as most Egyptians do on such occasions. He told me that he works for the Supreme Council of Egyptian Antiquities, and this was his fourth time to come and see the Tanoora dance show in the Ghuri Wikala. He told me that the dance was awe-inspiring and what he liked most was the Saggat player. The Saggat is a petite Oriental percussion instrument. The player holds two metal rings in both hands and starts hitting them together. I was surprised that this man came to this show only to see the Saggat player in particular. However, afterward, I understood why he was so fond of this Saggat player.
The performance started with eight music players who came onstage. There were eight Tabla players dressed in white oriental robes. The Tabla is the most famous oriental percussion instrument. It is an Oriental style of drums. The Saggat player was in the middle, and to the left-hand side, there was one Mezmar player. The Mezmar sound is like the flute in Western music. On the first floor of the Wikala and behind the players, stood a Rabbaba player, which is a 100% Egyptian string instrument that has a pretty distinctive sound, and beside him stood a Nay player, which is an old oriental music instrument created in the era before Islam in the Arabian peninsula.
Initially, they all started performing together, playing amusing oriental music. After about 10 minutes, the mizmar player went in front of the group and performed a brilliant solo with the other band members playing with him. He started moving and dancing in different directions while playing the mezmar, and at the end of his solo, he was rewarded with massive applause from the audience.
After him, it was the turn of one of the tabla players, who came and stood alone in front of the group. He performed some solos on the tabla, which is considered to be quite tricky. However, he was extremely clever in his performance, and the audience was astonished at how he created completely different rhythms in each part of his performance.
At last, it was the turn of the saggat player, who moved proudly in front of the group, opened his hands with the saggat inside them, and smiled at the audience. He bowed before the audience and seemed confident of himself and his success. But until this moment, I didn’t see this distinctive factor that made the older man come to watch him in particular, rather than any other player in the band.
However, I knew exactly what the old man meant when he started his performance. The Saggat player was different than any other player in the group. With every sound Saggat made, he made quite an interesting facial expression. It seemed like the Saggat was part of his body, sending blood through his veins. His moves and reactions were impressive. He smiled when his music was cheerful and seemed sad when his music was sorrowful. The beats of the Saggat started getting faster and faster as he moved around the stage, dancing in circles. His Solo was the most remarkable in the whole show!
Then, it was the turn for another Tabla player to perform his Solo. His mission to entertain the audience was difficult after the exciting Saggat player performance. However, this tall man was confident of his success. With the first moves of his long fingers on the Tabla, he is the most talented among all the Tabla players. He deserved loud clapping with the first beats he played. He started playing the Tabla, and all the other players moved around him in a fantastic art tableau. It was fabulous then to see the Saggat player again in the scene playing his beats with the last Tabla player. They both emerged in an ensemble that pleased the audience who were visiting the performance and were astonished at the abilities and talent of the players.
In the next part of the show, the stage was cleared, and a singer appeared on the second floor of the Wikala beside the Nay and the Rabbaba player. His voice was touching, and he started chanting famous oriental songs. Before the group who left the stage returned, a singer was beside him on the second floor, playing the Tabla while he was singing.
Afterward, Tanoora dancers came on stage and started dancing in circles as they played the Tabla. Tandoori is an old Arabic word that means skirt in English. They started doing some marvelous group dancing while the singer sang popular songs. They moved around the stage like butterflies and were very smooth.
All the audience was pleased to see the Saggat player again dancing in the middle of this group of Tabla players. This time, he didn't hold his Saggat with him, but he had two Tablas in his hands and was wearing the colorful Tanoora robe. He started performing the traditional Tanoora dancing, moving quickly in circles while the Tanoora robe went higher and higher with the acceleration of the speed of his circles. All the people were amazed that this man could move around in circles for not less than twenty minutes without stopping.
The most significant factor in the Tanoora show is the dancers' movement around in circles wearing multi-colored robes. The Saggat player held another rounded robe in his hands, which moved around with the robe he wore. The show continued like this for an extended period, with the players changing their dances. They danced while moving around, standing, and even sitting, with the Tanoora dancer moving around in circles in the middle of the group. At the same time, the singer sang Islamic tunes.
The last part of the show started with the Mezmar player at the right hand of the stage and a performer with a vast Tabla to the left hand of the stage playing a song together. In ten minutes, the other Tabla players joined them. In another ten minutes, two excellent Tanoora dancers joined them. They both started moving around quickly in small circles, making a startling scene. All the people enjoyed this part very much, as all the show's features were combined in incredible harmony.
At the end of the show, I knew why the older man told me at the beginning of the show that it was pretty impressive. The audience seemed delighted at the show's end as they saw a distinctive performance that combined architecture, art, and history. After the show, we ate a delicious Fetir snack in the Hussein Area. Fetir is baked oriental pastries cooked wonderfully in the Hussein Fetir restaurant. The performance of the Tanoora dance takes place in the Ghuri Wikala, usually on Mondays and Wednesdays at 7 o'clock.
Wikala El Ghuri phone number: +2 0225100823
