A story as old as time, Diriyah, the centre of the Kingdom and the scene of its first chapter, commemorated Founding Day on Sunday with a variety of musical acts, theatrical productions, and historical displays. Diriyah invited families and visitors of all ages and countries to discover everything there was to know about the First Saudi State’s founding. Interactive screens, Kahoot quizzes, shadow theatre shows, and palace-side projections showing the Kingdom’s history were all used to teach history.
Musical groups accompanied the guests as they walked around Diriyah, singing traditional and cultural melodies that carried the songs of victories and battles fought. “I feel kind of a contentment and peace, seeing how everybody is respectful of their past,” Vincent Pomer, a US traveler from Boston who is visiting a friend in the Kingdom, told Arab News. As an American, I will compare it to the Fourth of July. We celebrate Fourth of July not so much as our freedom but it is our short-lived history … Here, “founding day” is the Saudi equivalent.
One of the highlights of the celebrations was a Samri show, a Bedouin dance and music that originated in Najd. Samri, which dates back about 300 years, was customarily played on desert evenings when families were together. Men would kneel in two lines, swaying and clapping while they beat and sang poetry.
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