Bedouin music

Bedouin music (Arabic: الموسيقى البدوية) is the music of nomadic Bedouin Arab tribes in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, Mesopotamia and the Levant.

[1] It is closely linked to its text and poems.

Songs are based on poetry and are sung either unaccompanied, or to the stringed instrument, the rebab.

[1] Traditional instruments are the rebab and various woodwinds.

[2] Examples of Bedouin music are the Samri of Saudi Arabia,[3] Aita of Morocco, and the internationally recognised Rai of Algeria.

Bedouin violin players, Middle East, circa 1880s.