The coronavirus pandemic has changed many lives as far as social gatherings and get-togethers are concerned. The Covid-19 outbreak has also affected cultural and religious activities world over.
But many creative individuals continue to find new ways to socailise and celebrate their cultural and religious occasions. 
Garangao was recently celebrated in Qatar amid coronavirus restrictions. To maintain social distancing, the government made arrangements to distribute sweets and nuts among children at their homes.
In connection with the festival, Qatar Foundation in collaboration with Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra prepared a short video showing school children celebrating Garangao and singing songs at their homes. The video has been posted on digital platforms of Qatar Foundation.
Garangao is a celebration, observed in Gulf region on the 14th night of Ramadan. Garagao is marked with children dressing in traditional attires and going door-to-door to receive sweets and nuts from neighbours, whilst also singing traditional songs. The tradition has existed for hundreds of years and deeply rooted in the culture  of the Gulf.
Although the celebration of Garagao shares superficial similarities with the Halloween custom of trick-or-treating, practiced in some western countries, it has no connection with horror and no association with the origin with Halloween.
Nasser Sahim, Deputy Executive Director QPO, said that the orchestra worked on creating the Garangao video that featured 30 Qatar Foundation school students. It has been published on Qatar Foundation’s digital platforms.
He added: “The video is collaboration between Qatar Philharmonic musicians and music teachers from Qatar Music Academy. All the school children who took part in the Garangao video are Qataris aging between 3 to 12.
“The video’s aim was to celebrate the occasion of Garangao and to highlight the power of music in uniting us during these difficult times. The video is approximately 60 seconds long, and features students performing and singing the Garangao song. The children also performed traditional hair dance and they had to memorise the Garangao song for the performance.”
In the video with melodious background music, the young kids can be seen in traditional Arabic clothing, which is called jalabiya/thobe.
The QPO deputy executive director further said that the video was prepared to celebrate the Garangao occasion with the children as they are not allowed to go out and collect sweets and nuts from their neighbours while singing the song. The background music was provided by QPO musicians. The kids loved performing for the video and enjoyed watching it again and again.


The English phonetics of Arabic lyrics are:
Garangao Girga oh.
Atoona allah yateekum
Bayt Mecca ya wadeekum
Ya Mecca Yal mamoora
Yam il salasil wal thahab ya noora
Atoona min mal allah
Yislam lakum Abdulla.
Atoona min mal allah
Yislam lakum Abdulla.
Atoona min mal allah
Yislam lakum Abdulla.
Atoona min mal allah
Yislam lakum Abdulla.
Ya biniya ya hababa
Wa abooj mushrah baba
Bab alkaram ma saka.
Walla hat la bawaba
Garangao Girga oh.
Atoona allah yateekum
Bayt Mecca ya wadeekum
Ya Mecca Yal mamoora
Yam il salasil wal thahab ya noora
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