Doing Debka

Taxi drivers always give you the impression at first that they know the destination. Thursday night we were in a fleet of 3 taxis going to Amjed's brother's wedding party. The address was written in arabic and each car had a copy. Eventually we made it, after asking numerous other taxi drivers, stopping at a carwash, asking half a dozen pedestrians, etc. We could hear it before we saw it. There was a large tent, an all male group were sitting down watching younger men doing the Debka – a traditional dance among Arabs. It was wonderful to watch. At one point they were in a circle, arms on each others shoulders. On a small stage a male singer called the lyrics and a sound guy controlled the volume of music which was very loud. Graeme was in his element, socializing with the younger set, some of them friends of the workers from Tall Umayri. The music started up again and Graeme volunteered to give it a try. I (Ken) joined in later but not with Graeme's prowess.