Echoes in the Coral City: The Musical Soul of Tariq Abdulhakim’s Jeddah

In the heart of Jeddah’s Al Balad, the city’s ancient, coral-hewn soul, the air is thick with history. Labyrinthine alleys, too narrow for cars, snake between towering merchant houses adorned with intricate wooden balconies known as rawashin. Here, the scent of Yemeni coffee, smoldering bukhoor incense, and the distant murmur of the Red Sea blend into a timeless perfume. Amid the vibrant chaos of the Souq Al Alawi, where vendors hawk spices, textiles, and gleaming gold, lies a quieter sanctuary. It is not a mosque or a market, but a house of memory, a place where the very soundtrack of modern Saudi Arabia was born and is now preserved: the Tariq Abdulhakim Center.

To step across its threshold is to leave the clamor of the present behind and enter the world of a man who was both a soldier and a maestro. The center is housed within the beautifully restored Bait Al-Bunat, a classic Hijazi heritage house. Its coral-block walls, cool to the touch, have absorbed centuries of sea breezes and secrets. Inside, the quiet reverence is palpable. The story it tells is not just of one musician, but of a kingdom finding its voice in a rapidly changing world. It is the story of Sergeant Major Tariq Abdulhakim, the farmer’s son from Mecca who became the father of a national sound.

The House of Melodies in a City of Coral

The experience begins with the architecture itself. Before you even learn of the man, the building speaks of Jeddah’s history as a cosmopolitan port, the gateway for pilgrims journeying to Mecca. The multi-storied structure, with its large, ornate rawashin, was designed for a life lived between the desert heat and the sea’s humidity. These latticed balconies were not merely decorative; they were ingenious natural air conditioners, catching the coastal winds while providing shade and privacy for the families within. The house stands as a testament to an era of immense wealth and cultural exchange, a perfect vessel for the story of a musician who blended local Hijazi traditions with global influences.

Inside, the museum unfolds not as a sterile collection of artifacts, but as an intimate portrait of a life’s work. One of the first encounters is with his personal oud, its polished wood worn smooth from countless hours of practice and composition. Nearby, his military uniform stands at attention, a stark reminder of his parallel life. This juxtaposition is the key to understanding his genius. He was a man disciplined by military order, yet his soul was moved by the fluid, improvisational spirit of Arabic music. The exhibits guide you through this duality: handwritten musical scores covered in meticulous notes, personal letters, and photographs that place him alongside the giants of his time, from Egyptian diva Umm Kulthum to presidents and kings.

The Sergeant Who Composed a Kingdom’s Soundtrack

Tariq Abdulhakim’s journey was as improbable as it was profound. Born in 1918 in a neighborhood near the Great Mosque of Mecca, his earliest sonic landscape was the call to prayer and the diverse folk songs of pilgrims from across the Islamic world. The Hijaz region was a cultural crucible, and its native music—the celebratory Mijass, the poetic Majrour, the rhythmic coastal Khubaiti—formed the bedrock of his musical consciousness. Yet, in the conservative society of his youth, pursuing music was not a respectable career. So, he joined the army.

His military career provided structure, but it could not silence the melodies in his head. He taught himself to play the oud, practicing in secret and absorbing every musical influence he could find. The turning point came in the early 1950s when, in a bold move for a Saudi military man, he was granted leave to formally study music in Cairo. This was the golden age of Arab music, and in Egypt, he immersed himself in the sophisticated orchestral arrangements of Mohammed Abdel Wahab and the powerful traditions of the conservatory. He was learning a new language with which to tell his own country’s stories.

Upon his return, he was tasked with a monumental project that would forever etch his name in history. Saudi Arabia needed a formal national anthem that could be played by a Western-style military brass band at state functions. While the melody and lyrics existed, Abdulhakim was commissioned to create the definitive orchestral arrangement. He masterfully translated the soul of an Arabic melody into the language of brass and woodwind, creating the powerful and stirring version of Ash Al Malik (Long Live the King) that is known today. The sergeant from Mecca had composed his kingdom’s official soundtrack.

A Legacy Etched in Music and Memory

His work on the anthem was just the beginning. The Tariq Abdulhakim Center reveals the breathtaking scope of his true passion: preservation. Long before it was a national priority, he became a musical ethnographer, a collector of melodies. He traveled across the Arabian Peninsula, from the coastal villages of the Hejaz to the vast deserts of the Najd, seeking out elderly Bedouin poets and sailors. With a simple reel-to-reel tape recorder, he documented hundreds of folk songs, tribal chants, and working tunes that were on the verge of disappearing, preserving a priceless oral heritage for future generations.

The center showcases this pioneering work through interactive displays where visitors can hear these raw, haunting recordings. It is in these moments that one truly understands his legacy. He was not merely a composer but a bridge—between the ancient and the modern, the regional and the national, the Saudi and the global. His own compositions, like the iconic “Ya Rim Wadi Thaqif” (O’ Gazelle of the Thaqif Valley), were infused with this deep respect for tradition, yet presented with a modern polish that made them accessible to a new generation of listeners across the Arab world.

The Reawakening of a Heritage

The establishment of the Tariq Abdulhakim Center is more than an act of historical remembrance; it is a powerful statement about the future. As part of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 and a key project of the Ministry of Culture, the center is a living institution. It functions as a research hub for scholars of Saudi music and houses a permanent collection of regional instruments, serving as an educational resource that actively promotes the kingdom’s rich artistic traditions. It symbolizes a nationwide cultural reawakening, a confident embrace of an identity rooted in art, music, and storytelling.

To visit the center is to gain a key that unlocks the deeper identity of Al Balad itself. As you leave the quiet coolness of the museum and step back into the sun-drenched alleys, the sounds of the old city seem different. The rhythms of the blacksmith’s hammer, the melodic call of a vendor, the chatter of the crowds—they all resonate with the musical heritage you have just discovered. The melodies preserved within Bait Al-Bunat are not relics; they are the living, breathing spirit of the place. They are the echoes of a sergeant’s oud, a nation’s anthem, and the timeless song of the coral city by the sea.