Much like other parts of the Levant and North Africa, Palestine has a rich cultural history that encompasses a diverse range of musical and performance practices. Indigenous performance traditions, often referred to as ‘turath (folklore)’ form a significant part of Palestinian history and have not been given sufficient attention by scholars of theatre and performance studies. Here, the term ‘Indigenous practices’ refers to performance traditions that are not based on European-style theatre. Examples of such Indigenous practices include puppet theatre, sword dancing, and Sufi rituals. The importance of these practices is not only that they challenge European cultural supremacy by going beyond eurocentric definitions of performance, but that they also create new avenues for artistic experimentation through engagement with Palestinian cultural history in a manner that is relevant to the Palestinian community. Such practices have had a significant influence on the works of several contemporary musicians and theatre troops such as al-Basta Theatre, Bint Mbareh, and Maya Khaldi whose work contributes to the decolonization of Palestinian cultural practice.The following chapter consists of an interview with Maya Khaldi, a Palestinian musician from Jerusalem, whose most recent album Other World, provides a great example of how experimentation with indigenous traditions can lead to new forms of artistic innovation that engage with the culturally specific aspects of Palestinian performance history.
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