ROHM celebrates Folk Music Festival

The Royal Opera House Muscat’s Folk Music Festival (ROHM) presented the Omani Folk Ensemble with guests from Bulgaria, South Korea, and India in a two-day performance.

The 90-minute program was well received by a vibrant audience that responded enthusiastically to each of the groups.

The open theater has a fully packed audience. The performance began with Nikola Gino’s Folk Dance Ensemble, Bulgaria, founded in 1974. The programmer of the ensemble included dances from all ethnographical regions of Bulgaria. The rhythmic performance of the Bulgarian ensemble was followed by the Korean National Contemporary Dance Company from South Korea, founded in 1991. The performance had traditional and contemporary dancers. Each of the performances had the dancers carry different musical instruments, such as the Buk Chum (drum dance), Samulnori—a modern chamber adaptation of the farmer’s dance—and the Korean fan dance. With the fluid movement, the atmosphere was eclectic.

From India, the Utkarsh Dance Academy from Surat, Gujarat, specializing in Bharatanatyam and folk dances, presented the classical dance form and vibrant folk dance of the country.

The grand finale was led by the Omani band, the Samharam Folk Arts Group, which was established in 2009. The group, consisting of 30 members, has singers, musicians, and folk dancers, and the group is from Taqa in Dhofar Governorate.

According to the group, staying connected with deep-rooted traditions helps to prevent the loss of folk music from the collective memory and fosters a revival. The performance saw the use of four traditional drums, Alkasir, Ar’rahmani drums, tambourines (Douf), congas, oud, ney, flute, bagpipe, and two conch shells.

_{Images are for reference only.Images and contents gathered automatic from google or 3rd party sources.All rights on the images and contents are with their legal original owners.}