Al Aragoz

Al”Aragoz “is a traditional puppet in Egyptian folklore, it has a great influence in the Egyptian art culture through his stories where criticizing one or more aspects of Egyptian social life and political side in comedy way!Historians have differed in determining the exact period when this type of art “Al Aragoz” has been introduced in Egypt. But according to some the origin of the name “Aragoz” is Turkish inspired by “Karagöz”  which “Kara” means black and “Goz” means eyes so it will be “black eyed”.

The “Aragoz” art differs from shadowgraphy “shadow art” and marionette, where in “Aragoz” art the puppet wears a red hat called “Tartour” and “Gallabya” robe, and the puppeteer controls the puppet movements through entering his hand inside it’s “Jilbab” where it’s totally hidden.

The puppeteer moves with portable stage or a caravan pulled by a mule performing in the countryside and in popular neighborhoods, and the performances are most about a simple dramatic situation showed in a funny way and sometimes has simple vocal performance, and most of the performances were divided into simple memorized script and with a lot of improvisation depends on each situation. 

Tags:

Aragoz,        Puppet,     Folklore,   Shadowgraphy,   Art,    Marionette, Jilbab,   Tartour,