Music in Bahrain: Traditional Music of the Arabian Gulf, Volumes 1-3"Although Bahraini music, the theme of this book, stretches back over many thousands of years, Music in Bahrain is - apart from those in Arabic - the first publication to deal with this very rich subject. Poul Rovsing Olsen, a Western ethnomusicologist and composer of international renown, first went to Bahrain to record its music in 1958, and he continued at intervals to do so during the following twenty years. He finished the manuscript shortly before his death in 1982, but it was not until recently that Moesgaard Museum discovered it and decided to publish it in cooperation with the Bahraini Ministry of Information. In 1958, oil had replaced pearls as the island's primary source of wealth, and traditional music had begun to decline. Rovsing Olsen searched out music wherever he could, at private village weddings and performances for dignitaries, in the houses of retired pearl divers and sessions at Radio Bahrain. A cross-section of these recordings are preserved on the three CDs that accompany this volume. Among other things, there are chapters devoted to religious singing, African influences, the music of pearl divers, women's songs and festive dances. It is the spirit of festive dance that seems, more than any other, to animate the many musical genres of Bahraini music, in which, as Rovsing Olsen once wrote, ""the feast was the real essence""." |
Common terms and phrases
1978 at Bahrain 8-rhythm Abu Dhabi accompanied Ahmad bu-Tabanya Arab music Arabian Gulf Ardah Arubi Ashūri Bahrain Ministry Bahrain National Museum Bahrain Radio Baḥri Basta beat Bedouin belonging boats Chorus Nahhām Chorus dancers Danish Dār Dazza deff Dilmun double-skin drum tabl drone drummer Example Fijiri frame drums frame drums ṭār genres goblet drum Hassan heard instruments Iraq Iraqi jaḥla Jirba jufti Khalifa Khammāri kind Kuwait large double-skin drum Leiwa Maqām Mawled Mawwal melodic Ministry of Information Mkhōlfi Moesgaard Museum Mrāda Muhammad Fares Muharraq musicians Nahhām Chorus Nahhām pearl divers pearl fishing performed Photo played Poul Rovsing Olsen Radio in Manamah Recorded rhythm rhythmic Rifa Salem al-Allan Sangini Șawt Sheikh Isa singer singing small double-headed drums Solo Chorus soloist stanza sung surnay ṭabl ṭambūra Tanzileh Taqsim Tawshiḥa Tōb tōb traditional Transcribed tunes ṭūs ūd player United Arab Emirates vocal weddings women Yā māl Zār