The geographical location of Qatar on the eastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula has played an important role in the country’s openness on different civilizations. This is reflected in Qatar’s cultural heritage. The common elements it shares with fellow countries of the Arabian Peninsula, such as history, language, religion and kinship, have produced almost an identical cultural heritage. At the same time, Qatar's longstanding relations with other countries in the Indian subcontinent and Africa have had an impact on its cultural orientation, especially the folklore and popular arts.

Folklore Musical Instruments

like other fellow GCC countries, Qatar's folklore is characterized by diversity especially in musical instruments like the Indian Drum and the African Drum, the Tambourine which is used in all Qatari folklore performances, and Al- Mirwas, a small drum held with one hand and beaten with fingers, also Al-Sirnai and the Single String rebeck which is a one string instrument played with a bow made from the hair of a horsetail and The Lute.

There are numerous types of popular songs and folklore dances in Qatar. For example, some group performances enact the types of collective physical effort during work such as ship pulling, pushing, loading, unloading or cleaning. These movements are accompanied by slow repetitive humming intended to encourage work and activity.

In group musical performances the band is divided into two groups. The drummers stay in the middle. The first group utters one line of a lyric and the second group repeats it. This happens in general in Al-ardah, As-samiri and Al-muradah dances. Women's songs in Qatar are usually delivered by a solo singer. The performer recites the verse and the band repeats the couplet or the first line of lyric all through to the end of the song.

This kind of performance exists also in the so-called maritime arts such as An-nahham, Al –Majooa, An-najdi and Al-Baddawi.In solo songs, a performer uses an instrument or relies on the pitch of one's voice, its beauty and the style of one's performance. This is common in Al-jarhan, Al-hajini, the rebeck and vocalizations. There are movements accompanying the different types of the daily work which have been incorporated in musical performances and are characterized by spontaneity and rely on hands clapping and feet tapping. They are generally seen in maritime arts and are governed by no rules.

Folklore Dances

There are group and individual dances. Men usually dance in groups to specific rhythms. Among such dances are Al-Ardah, Al-matari, Tanboura and As-samiri. These are dances in which performers come up with their own movements according to their creative capabilities, although there are some established methods and styles for such dances.Ar-razif is a dance performed by a single male which involves wielding a sword in hand on the dance floor. 

A dancer carries a sword, a rifle or a dagger and beats the ground with his feet. Ar-razif is the only individual dance that the dancer performs with his head held high, body upright as if ready to bounce. There is also “Az-zaffan”, which are individual dances accompanied by popular songs. They combine between jumping in the air, and moving in various directions to melodies of lute and mirwas. One can sometimes find individual male dance in As-samiri or Al-laabouni circles.