'Turooq' Initiative to Document Saudi Folk Music Traditions

Saudi Arabia’s Music Commission has launched the third phase of the ‘Turooq Al-Saudia’ initiative, a nationwide effort to preserve the country’s traditional music and performance heritage. This stage focuses on documenting five regional folk genres—Al-Sout, Al-Sahba, Al-Danat, Al-Yanbawi, and Al-Majass—through a mix of fieldwork, archival research, and audiovisual production.

Designed to align with UNESCO documentation standards and the Ministry of Culture’s official archiving guide, the project will produce detailed written, audio, and video records for both scholarly and cultural use. This includes musical scores, choreography notations, performance footage, and ethnographic documentaries.

The project is being delivered in collaboration with the Theater and Performing Arts Commission, the Heritage Commission, and the Center for Cultural Memory. Previous phases of the programme focused on the traditions of Al-Magareer and mapped folk music across Asir and Al-Baha. To date, more than 10,000 archival items have been created, and 59 documentary films from the initiative are already available to stream via Shahid.

‘Turooq Al-Saudia’ is part of a growing national strategy to preserve intangible cultural heritage across the Kingdom and support its transmission to future generations through accessible, high-quality documentation. Further phases are expected to explore additional musical and performance traditions across other Saudi regions.