The “Yash’hadoon” Project of the National Youth Commission (NYC) seeks to develop the ability and participation of young people in identifying, understanding and preserving the civilizational and historical treasures and the original Omani cultural heritage in terms of qualifying youth teams and training them in the skills of documenting oral history from the mouths of the narrators through recording and photography, and then the youth teams documenting Omani oral history by recording and preserving historical information from elderly people around them (relatives, neighbours and friends) who witnessed important events based on their personal experiences, or what they heard about these events. This documentation may include folk tales, folk proverbs, social customs and traditions, food, marriage, occasions, family and clan, etc. Documentation may include writing and recording narrations, audio or video, etc. Then the oral history is collected through written documentation and narrations are recorded in adult voices or through video. etc. Young people are directed by specialized supervisors to classify and display information through the production of brochures, documentaries, or photo exhibitions, among others.
The “Iloom Al-Awaleen” podcast is considered one of the main outputs that young people were trained on in 2019, to be released this year. It is an audio series produced by the NYC within the activities of the “Yash’hadoon” project by contracting with the “Qaf Network” youth company, which is an institution concerned with the production of audio content, which started its production through the “Qafeer” podcast. This audio series is directed to young people directly with the aim of strengthening their adherence to their civilizational, human and historical heritage, and celebrates the elderly by telling the stories of our ancestors with their voices. In this audio series, we explore the details of places in Oman and dive into them to find out what happened. This series is based on documenting oral history from stories of places that may be known to the Omanis, but there are stories that only those who are contemporary with them know. Therefore, we approach the elderly and tell these stories with their voices, with the addition of voiceover as a supportive factor for the smooth storytelling and suspense of the listener to follow the rest of the story, through the international voice commentator, Salem Al Riyami.
“If we want to talk about the “Iloom Al-Awaleen” podcasts, we have to know the umbrella that came out of it, and the idea that led to its emergence,” said Muhammad Al-Rawahi, a member of the National Youth Commission and the head of the project. The podcast “Iloom Al-Awaleen” is one of the most important outputs of the “Yash’hadoon” project, which was launched by the National Youth Commission in 2017 as part of the Citizenship and Pertinence Program with the aim of preserving the Omani oral history, which deals with the general folklore of stories, novels, proverbs, wisdom, popular games, poetry, and everything related to oral history. In this project, a number of achievements have been achieved, including the preparation of three specialized training courses to prepare national cadres qualified for preserving oral history, from which eighty researchers graduated. These trainees did a wonderful fieldwork documenting oral history, as they moved on to elderly “narrators” and recorded more than a hundred audio materials with them.
Al-Rawahi added, “The team did not want these recordings to remain locked up, but rather was convinced that these recordings had the right to be publicized and published because they dealt with a very important cultural heritage. The contract with the “Qaf” company, led by the young journalist Salem bin Bashir Al-Riyami, to produce an audio series consisting of fifteen episodes with the voices of the narrators, who are the elderly, through telling stories and tales in everything related to oral history with the addition of the audio commentary to produce the work in a smooth and attractive manner. The podcast achieved the desired results and its episodes came as messages addressed to young people to take pride in their cultural heritage and to strengthen their adherence to their Omani civilizational heritage. This podcast came as a result of the youth’s cooperation with the NYC. It would not have come out in this wondaful way had it not been for the diligence of the youth and their eagerness to document the Omani oral history. We hope that this project will extend to continue its activities and achievements, and to address the largest amount of Omani oral and cultural history.”
Al-Rawahi in a message to all young people, said, “We should be aware that oral history is a national heritage and a civilizational treasure, and the field of research in it is vast and wide. It is essential that the cultural heritage be collected as soon as possible so that its sources are not lost, because those who have lived and examined oral history are elderly people and may leave at any moment. The methodology of researching oral history must be accompanied by good planning, searching for sources, and then moving to collect information. The recordings should be produced in a modern and attractive manner suitable for the listeners in order for them to be useful.
Salem bin Bashir Al Riyami, voice commentator in the “Iloom Al-Awaleen” podcast, says, “My experience in this project is very inspiring and rich, especially the experience of my meeting with the elderly, it was a spontaneous meeting full of conversations of their experiences and old stories. Coordination with them was through young people who worked on this project previously. Therefore, they facilitated direct access to the narrators and their relatives to receive me and work on recording the episodes. This experience added to me the opportunity to learn about ancient places first, and the inspiring stories behind them that mean first to me as an Omani and as a young man, who settle in this part of the earth because my ancestors are part of this story, so it is inspiring to me. The impressions of the narrators were very good, they were enthusiastic, entertaining and very happy about talking about their history and stories in their own language and dialect very spontaneously that it added a nice touch to the podcast. The addition that I got from this valuable work is the team that I worked with for audio production. It is an added experience for me to deal with writer, sound engineer and e-marketing all within one team. This work will send a message to the dear listener, whether inside or outside Oman, that Oman is a very rich country, and its presence on this land is like a rock, plant, or any element of this country that has its own interesting story, which is what we tried to shed light on. This is in addition to the multiple richness, such as the cultural richness that includes different dialects as a prior planning to display more than one dialect from the interior of Oman, the coast and Muscat, thus forming the unique Omani mixture that appeared in this work.”
So far, the National Youth Commission i cooperation with the Qaf network has produced 10 episodes that included (19 elderly narrators) in various governorates of the Sultanate as follows:
Episode One: Beit Al Baranda - Muscat Governorate
This episode tells what the elderly narrators know and remember about Beit Al Baranda and how it became a museum that includes the history of the city of Muscat, where on the ground floor you will find a hall that displays details of the ancient natural life and the amazing geological diversity in this city 66 million years ago. But what will you find if you enter the halls of the memory of the elderly who lived some of the details of Beit Al Baranda in the past? This episode reveals the relationship of Bait Al Baranda with the British Council, the Large Balcony, and other information that you hear about for the first time.
Episode Two: Falaj Al Feeqeen - Ad Dakhiliyah Governorate
This episode narrates the testimony of elderly narrators in the Wilayat of Manah about the history of the construction of Falaj Al Feeqeen and the stories associated with those generous, good hands that struck the ground with the first axe and saw the water flowing for the first time. The narrators also tell about the shares of the falaj and their distribution and the solidarity of people in serving the falaj and taking care of it.
Episode Three: Al Feeqeen Fort - Ad Dakhiliyah Governorate
This episode describes the memories of the elders in the Wilayat of Manah about the construction of Al-Feeqeen Fort, and the stories told, including the story of the bride, whose cousins disagreed in order to win her. The dispute intensified causing the division between the north and the south of the village of Al-Feeqeen in the Wilayat of Manah, and they were remnants of the tales of Al-Feeqeen Fort, so what did the elderly say about them?!
Episode Four: Al-Jami Mosque – Al Batinah South Governorate
This episode tells the story of building this mosque, where the tale says that a group of female worshippers donated their money to build a mosque in the Wilayat of Nakhl. The narrators also describe the aesthetics of this architectural masterpiece, as the mihrab is bright in its colours, making it the central mosque in the Wilayat, the science place, and the home of the region’s residents.
Episode Five: Seeb Market - Muscat Governorate
This episode documents the details of what the elderly narrators witnessed in the Seeb Market, which began with simple shops to reach us today with its stores and shops. It also documents the story of the safe small community in the larger community, the stories that surrounded this place, and the events that crossed in its memory and are still in the memory of the elderly.
Episode Six: Saham Market - Al Batinah North Governorate
In this episode, the narrators talk about the aesthetics of Saham Market. They tell how, between the alleys, the shops of Omani sellers face each other full of the various goods of trade, and the various requirements and needs of the people. They tell their testimonies about the old Saham market, the story of the Burhan fire that the market witnessed years ago, the days of Ramadan nights and the “Musaharati”, besides the stories of trade and merchants.
Episode Seven: Qurayyat Fort - Muscat Governorate
In this episode, the narrators reveal heritage details related to the fort, including the quality of the plaster and the sarooj in which the Qurayyat fort was reconstructed during the rule of Sayyid Saeed bin Sultan Al Busaidi. The governors and judges settled in this fortress, which is in the middle of the market with its square-shaped construction, to be a destination and a reference for litigation, seeking advice, seeking justice and settling disputes, so how many wars this impregnable fortress have dealt with?
Episode Eight: Sur al-Lawatiya (Part 1) - Muscat Governorate
This episode takes place in the city of Muttrah, which boasts the breezes of the sea and gulls, its narrow alleys and lanes, and the wall behind which many worlds are hidden, and behind its walls are stories and events hidden. This episode takes you through the facts and the secrets of the Lawatia wall and its ancient history.
Episode Eight: Sur Al-Lawatiya (Part 2) - Muscat Governorate
This episode completes digging into the rich memory of the narrators about Soor Al Lawatia (the Wall of Lawatia) and the culture and history that gathered behind it that cannot be surpassed. They tell their testimony about the religious events that take place inside the wall for those who missed knowing the secrets of education in the schools of the Wall, in addition to the stories that crossed in the memory of the current market and passed, such as a flood and the fire that almost buried the remains of this historic wall. This episode will take you beyond the walls.
Episode Ten: Izki Market (Part 1) - Ad Dakhiliya Governorate
The events of this episode take place on the banks of Wadi Halfin in the Wilayat of Izki, where the old Izki market in the ancient Nazar neighbourhood, and where tribes and villages met for sale and purchase, and the community’s culture was manifested in the life of the market, the market that does not open its doors until after the Dhihr (noon) prayer, so why not in the early morning? In addition to other tales from the mouths of our elderly.
Episode Ten: Izki Market (Part 2) - Ad Dakhiliya Governorate
This episode completes the search for the rich memory that tells the details of Izki Market, including the cost and price of buying fish from the market. Those that were linked to successive currencies, industries that the market witnessed among its shops, the memory that triumphed over the fluctuating conditions and different circumstances that faced the market, what you did not know before about the wages of the worker and the trader in the market and about the rental of Al Hilqa or Al Arsa in which people bid for their livestock, in addition to other stories about the old Izki market.
This type of audio documentary production of cultural heritage is the first of its kind on the level of Arabic podcast content. It will document a portion of our rich history rich in events and experiences whose preservation is the perpetuation of inspiring aspects of life. This podcast will be available on the National Youth Commission website (www.nyc.om).