DAMASCUS —
Ramadan drummers who awaken the faithful for their pre-dawn meal are dying out
across the Muslim world but the tradition lives on in Syria’s capital despite
the growing reliance on smartphones.
اضافة اعلان
Around one hour
before the call to prayer rings out at dawn, Ramadan drummers, known as
musaharati, walk through narrow streets to wake the faithful.
They include Hasan
al-Rashi, 60, one of the 30 musaharatis left in
Damascus.
His voice breaks
the nighttime silence in the capital’s Old City, as he sings and pounds his
drum.
“Despite the advent
of smartphones and other technologies, people still like to wake up to the
voice of the musaharati,” Rashi told AFP.
“The musaharati is
a part of the customs and traditions of the people of Damascus during the month
of Ramadan,” he added.
“It is a heritage
that we will not leave behind.”
While performing
his musaharati task, Rashi carries a bamboo cane in one hand and a drum made of
goatskin in the other.
He walks quickly
from home to home, using his stick to tap on doors of families who have asked
for his services.
“Wake up for Suhoor
(pre-dawn meal), Ramadan has come to visit you,” Rashi sings.
Although they do
receive gifts, the musaharati do not usually expect financial rewards.
They sometimes
carry bags or straw baskets to store food and other gifts that are given to
them.
For Rashi, it is
not about the freebies.
“We feel joy when
we go out every day,” he said.
“Some children
follow us sometimes and ask to beat the drum,” Rashi added.
Ahead of the call
to prayer, Sharif Resho asks one of his neighbors for a glass of water before
the start of his fast.
The 51-year-old
musaharati usually accompanies Rashi every night, also beating his drum and
singing.
“My equipment is
simple, it is my voice, my drum and my stick,” he said.
Resho, whose father
was also a Ramadan drummer, has carried out musaharati duties for nearly a
quarter of a century.
Syria’s more than
decade-long war and the coronavirus pandemic did not stop him from carrying on,
he said.
“I will keep waking
people up for suhoor as long as I have a voice in my throat,” Resho told AFP.
“It is a duty I inherited from my father, that I will pass
on to my son.”
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