Mukthiya or shari'a is an integral part of most marriage ceremonies in Sanaa, as well as in a number of other areas in the country. This is the name of the woman who beautifies the bride and teaches her some facts of life. In the West, families discuss different aspects of reproduction and sex-related facts with their children at an early age. In traditional societies, this is shunned until very close to the marriage date. Here enters the shari'a.
Families, especially rich ones, still stick to this old tradition and assign the woman with advising the bride on certain health and sexual habits. She also advises her not to let her husband touch her until he gives her a certain amount of money or golden ornaments.
This woman is professional and has no other work to do. She seizes the opportunity of marriage festivals to sell combs, rings and other ornaments to women attending the ceremony.

Low income families may not invite the shari'a to their marriage festivities because they may not afford her fees, which could reach 2,000 rials a day. Marriages usually las for three days, which mean that her fee could rise to 6,000 rials. Rich families often pay a flat fee of 10,000 rials.
Today, the tradition of shari'a is withering away except in old Sanaa, Hajja and Thula. Most brides prefer to go to modern salons for beautification, and schools, friends, families usually fill-in the information the bride needs to start a family.
I have asked a number of girls in Sanaa whether they prefer having a shari'a come to their house when they get married or going to a salon.

Many said they preferred the shari'a. First, this is done at home, giving the girl and her friends more privacy. Second, it does not exclude getting modern cosmetics and other services. Third, the shari'a accompanies the bride to her husband's house.
Educated girls felt less at ease with the shari'a than the less educated ones. Some even described the shari'a tradition as obsolete.

As a general summary of the survey, it is clear that the shari'a service will not continue in its traditional format. The need for some kind of moral support by the young brides who are not adequately informed in the facts of life will make the shari'a an indispensable person.

By: Khayriya Al Shibibi,
Yemen Times.

 

Awadh Ahmad was so called by his fans who greatly admired his beautiful voice which rose high in Aden during the golden era of Yemeni songs and Bana is the beautiful valley in Abyan.
The artist is originally from Abyan governorate and was born in Zanzibar in 1950 amidst the vast greenery of that governorate known for the production of cotton and best agricultural products.

He was fond of music ever since his early childhood and was influenced with the renowned singers at the time especially in nearby Lahj and other Arab singers.
He was discovered by late Fadl Ahmad Al Salamy and Nasser Gharam who admired his voice and told Sultan Abyan Ahmad bin Abdullah Al Fadly who was known for his encouragement of arts and artists. He asked them to adopt him after taking permission from his relatives in the early sixties. Awad started his musical career as the first singer from Abyan.

In 1962, Awad recorded his first two songs accompanied by the Aden radio troupe. He formed a successful musical couple with composer Mohammed Mohsen Atroosh who managed to shed light on the beautiful layers in voice of Awad.
Atroosh had then recently returned from Egypt where he studies music and brought back with him many new ideas and excelled in playing on the lute.

In 1972, Awad settled in Aden and sang to other composers a number of songs including the one titled "Sari Al Leyel" which swept through the gulf.
Our artist's reputation spilt out to nearby Saudi Arabia and other gulf countries. In the early seventies, he was invited to Kuwait where he recorded a number of his songs and sang in a number of parties.
Awad's latest participation was in 1998 in Ismailiya, Egypt where he was joined by an artistic and folklore troupe from Abyan. During his presence in Sanaa in Summer last year, he recorded a number of his songs for the Yemeni space channel. He is still singing on various occasions, pleasing his fans with new and genuine Yemeni songs.

By: Saleh Abdulbaki,
Art Editor, Yemen Times

 

Yemen as a country is quite well known in the world for many reasons, the most recent ones being the kidnapping and killing of four tourists, the on-going trial of the Britons, and its place as the only democratic country in the Arabian Peninsula. Yemen's culture is not well known, for the simple reason that there have been no serious attempts to unveil our rich culture to the outside world, except for few people who are interested in Yemeni culture, and are keen to promote it. One of these people is Mr. Peter Schweizer.

Mr. Peter Schweizer is an architect and a photographer, who has issued many books about Yemen. He has exerted a remarkable effort to establish many different cultural projects and programs which have an important and influential role in boosting the cultural cooperation between Yemen and Switzerland. One of his projects concerning Yemen is a proposal to have a permanent photo exhibition under the title THE YEMENI PEOPLE FACE TO FACE, presented in his name and the name of the Swiss Government to the Yemeni people, and to one of the main Tourist Features of Yemen, and that is the Rock Palace at Wadi Dahar. The proposal was approved by The Ministry of Culture and Tourism, The Ministry of Information and the General Authority for the Preservation of Old Towns as well as other concerned authorities. This photo exhibition will give the Rock Palace a new look, and it will help tourists to understand Yemen in a better way. It will also help to promote tourism. The Exhibition shall be officially inaugurated on 19th Feb. 1999.

 

It is a known fact that education is a key factor in development and change. It is the main vehicle towards a more glorious tomorrow in any society. In other words, the more a society is educated, the easier and quicker it is to achieve social, economic and political progress.
It becomes a means to building a new social structure. So, combating illiteracy in a society means modernizing its whole structure and burying poverty. This is because it is very difficult for an illiterate society to accept or interact with any efforts for change. Therefore, it is a must for any society to fight against illiteracy to achieve prosperity and welfare for its people.

Illiteracy versus Progress
Over 30 years passed since the Yemeni revolution. Still, the number of illiterate people in the society is staggeringly estimated at around 85%. So, what has been done during this time is very little. In these years, wonders could have been done to eradicate illiteracy or at least reduce its rate. Many countries could do a lot in this field in a very short time.
It is noticeable that the campaign launched against illiteracy in Yemen was active in the 1980s. Many centers for this purpose were opened all over the country including rural areas. But, they began to gradually disappear in some areas. They are now closed down. In fact, they are available only in the government payrolls while in reality some centers are not really there. But they are not working properly and as they should. A lot of money is wasted while nothing is achieved. It is actually staggering to hear that some of the current centers are phantom. The equipment and appliances of some of these centers disappear. This story is applied to one of these centers in Mawiyah in Taiz where thousands of dollars are wasted.

Illiteracy and Backwardness
Neglect on the part of the people in charge is clearly visible. People in authority are not conscious enough of the danger of illiteracy. Maybe they don't understand that illiteracy makes society susceptible to all sorts of diseases, poverty and many other evils that hinder development and progress. The most important task for the government is to enlighten the minds of the people. It is only in this case that a real change or new life can be breathed into the society.
I wonder! How would we be able to move into the 21st century with such a heavy burden of backwardness, poverty and fragile infrastructure? While the advanced world is doing its best to minimize computer illiteracy among its masses, we are not even able to teach our people how to read and write.

It is quite natural that humanity goes hand in hand with advancement and modernization. To make things short, as history moves forwards, people get more and more advanced and their conditions get better. But for us the case is different.
We move backward. The more the western world is advancing and developing, the more we are getting poorer, illiterate and in worse situations. While they are going faster towards the new age of information, knowledge and revolutionary technology, we are not even able to crawl. Backwardness is riding high.

The UN human development report of 1998 put Yemen in the 152 place in a list of 202 countries around the world. Around 15% of the Yemeni population are afflicted by hepatitis B. Over 6,000 Yemenis die every month from malaria, dysentery, respiratory diseases, typhoid. The list can go on. So, this is a pointer of deteriorating conditions.
In seeking the basic reasons, one can not forget illiteracy. It really hurts the situation a lot. This is because when the majority of society is illiterate, they become oblivious and answer of their health, food...etc. They are entirely different in their future outlook. This should not be understood as a critical attitude. Rather it is the truth.

Observing our living conditions in the 1980s, one can see the difference. it seems that we always like to be 'exceptional' and 'extraordinary? Why? I don't intend to say illiteracy is the only reason behind our constant deterioration. Rather, it is one of the main stumbling blocks and obstacles in the way of any development and change. Therefore, unless we do something to minimize the number of illiterate people, our plans for the future will move erratically.

Illiterate Educated
It is not only that. Even some of the educated persons who have joined schools and universities can be labeled as illiterate educated. Some educators see our universities today as a mere center for removing the illiteracy of the educated.
To put it in another way, students of schools and graduates of universities have not been given proper education that qualifies them for the job market or even for their personal lives. Some of our university students make horrible mistakes or errors in spelling, grammar or sentence structure which can not be made by a student in elementary school, who has received good school education.

Just a visit to any school, especially in far-off rural areas, is enough to tell much of the plight of education in Yemen. We are proud of having millions of students but we have forgotten their proficiency and skills. In reality, only a select few are qualified to be called students. Some of them are still illiterate. So, does this mean that even in this we are 'exceptional' for we have two kinds of illiteracy?

The people in charge should pay more attention to the question of education. Otherwise, the current situation will lead to more destructive damage. Can we stop it before it gets out of hand? I think that we still have time!

Mohammed Hatem Al-Qadhi,
Taiz Office Editor,
Yemen Times.