Yemen, Music from the Heart of Arabia (1999)

The "magyal" is, in Yemen, a daily gathering where friends chew the "kât" together, talking and listening to music or poetry. A musician is showing us his instrument, the ancient lute, which can only be found now in Yemen and in the Comoros; the "qanbus" or "Sana Oeûd", at the harmony table which has been covered with goat skin. The singer can enhance his lyric poetry by hitting out a crystal-like sound from a copper tray. In the Yemeni society music can't be separated from poetry. The words of the song must be fully understood to feel the emotion conveyed by the singer. The Bedouin clarinet player is playing a last tune on views of the towered-houses of the old town of Sana. Silence takes over when dawn gradually switches from darkness to daylight. Then profane music is replaced by the muezzins' sacred music, their voices echoing each other from one minaret to another.