RIYADH: The Music Commission hosted an open meeting on the Saudi Music Memory initiative, engaging with music enthusiasts and industry professionals, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Tuesday.

The goal was to involve them in preserving the Kingdom’s musical heritage, as part of a series of open meetings designed to keep the musical community informed and encourage their participation in documenting and preserving Saudi music.

The virtual meeting outlined the initiative’s focus on documenting music and lyrics composed by Saudi artists through the mid-1980s, aiming to preserve and archive these works and the evolution of the Saudi music scene.

The meeting highlighted the achievements of the Saudi Music Memory initiative, which secured rights for over 5,000 works, documented 305 musical notations, and produced two musical notation books. The first book, titled “From the Memory of National Songs,” was released to coincide with this year’s Founding Day. The second book, “From the Memory of Ramadan Songs,” is completed and set to be published before Ramadan 2025.

The meeting featured interviews with renowned artists who experienced the early days of Saudi music, like Mohammed Abdu, Abadi Al-Johar, and Jamil Mahmoud, who shared stories about the origins of Saudi music and the role of its pioneers.

The meeting outlined the stages of the initiative, beginning with securing the rights to use classical musical and lyrical works, which has been completed. The second stage, transcribing musical works, is underway. Next, the commission plans to create documentary content and reproduce and distribute significant musical works, expected to be completed in the upcoming year. Once these stages are finished, the final step will be building an integrated platform.

The commission adhered to a scientific methodology, ensuring honesty and neutrality in all outputs of the initiative. It eliminated community and private artistic biases, aligned with the Saudi Cultural Memory Center, followed the guidelines in the documentation and digital archiving manual issued by the Ministry of Culture, and conducted a comprehensive inventory of all relevant materials and information.

The commission launched the Saudi Music Memory initiative to document the history of Saudi art, aiming to create a reliable reference, highlight its regional influence, offer academically documented research for musicians, researchers, and interested parties, and showcase high-value musical works that have not received due media attention, the SPA reported.

DAMMAM: The Heritage Commission is holding an event to celebrate ancient Rakah, with historical reenactments, guided tours, archaeological experts and handicrafts.

Once a major trading spot, some 1,500 years ago, the area takes its name from an indigenous tree species that once flourished there. The sandy environment was also once under the sea and shells can be found still glued to the rocks.

Many of the guides are female archaeology graduates from Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, formerly known as the University of Dammam.

Wala Al-Nafaiai, who co-founded Dam Studio, a local business that specializes in handmade goods made of cow and camel hide, said she was looking forward to showing off her products to visitors.

“We want our customers to enter our space, either in our booth at the event this week or our studio location, and in just a short time be able to produce something customized to take home, she told Arab News.

“Instead of going to a restaurant, we want you to spend the time to have an experience, produce something practical and learn skills you can utilize later.”

Al-Nafaiai said she was delighted with how many people had taken part in the workshops she provided at her booth.

It seems many (people) enjoy customizing something that they feel connected to once they make it with their own hands.

Wala Al-Nafaiai, Dam Studio co-founder

“It was so crowded … I was surprised that there were more adults than children who wanted to join in, although the craft was very simple,” she said.

“It seems many (people) enjoy customizing something that they feel connected to once they make it with their own hands. And that is our goal and the goal of the Heritage Commission who invited us to join this successful event.”

Visitors were also able to learn about the importance of dates to the community in ancient times and how local people would make and trade date syrup with visiting merchants.

Organized in cooperation with the Sharqiya Development Authority, the festival ends on Tuesday. For more information, visit heritage.moc.gov.sa or @mocheritage.