Aspects of the Musical Traditions in the Arabian Peninsula: Distinctive Features, Institutional Preservation, Patrimonial Negotiations

ATMuse> Music in Arabia

from Chapter 2 by Scheherazade Hasson, pg. 13-31

In Music in Arabia,

Edited by Isso Boulos, Virginia Danielson and Anne K. Rasmussen

Four women and one man sit on a red rug in front of white and green drapes and play hand drums. — Women’s Ensemble in Qatar, 1998. This may be the Ensemble Asma al-Hareth. Courtesy of Scheherazade Hassan.

A woman in black robes with a drum sits on the floor and learns against a wall with a finger on one cheek as if she's listening to someone. — Drummer, taking a break in a performance by a women’s ensemble, Doha, Qatar, 1998. Courtesy of Scheherazade Hassan.

Several men, some standing and some kneeling, smile and dance and wave their arms and play drums in a large room with sofas. — Pearl fishers’ ensemble (fjirī), Bahrain, 1996. Fjirī is a generic term used mostly in Qatar and Bahrain, for a large corpus of mariners’ songs sung for both work-related purposes and also entertainment. Courtesy of Scheherazade Hassan.

Sa` ad bin Awwad (fjirī), Doha, Qatar, 1987. Courtesy of Scheherazade Hassan.

Men in white robes kneel close together in a circle and put their hands down on a rug. — Firqat Sa`ad bin Awwad, fjirī performance, Doha, Qatar, 1987. Courtesy of Scheherazade Hassan.

Several men in white robes kneel on an oriental rug and clap their hands. — Firqat Sa` ad bin Awwad, polyrythmic hand-clapping during a fjirī performance, Doha, Qatar, 1987.Courtesy of Scheherazade Hassan.

Men in white robes sit on the floor and play instruments while two other men stand in the center and play drums. — Firqat Sa`ad bin `Awwad (fjirī), Doha, Qatar, 1987. Courtesy of Scheherazade Hassan.

Two men sit on the floor and play drum-like instruments, and one of them also sing. — Firqat Sa`ad bin `Awwad (fjirī), Doha, Qatar, 1987. Courtesy of Scheherazade Hassan.

Seven drums of three types lie on an oriental rug. — Musical instruments used at the fjirī evenings, Doha, Qatar, 1987. Courtesy of Scheherazade Hassan.

Some men and women sit on the floor and lean against a wall and a some men sit eleswhere in the room around a microphone placed on a rug. — Audience at a performance by Firqat Sa`ad bin Awwad (fjirī), Doha Qatar, 1987. Courtesy of Scheherazade Hassan.

Men sing and clap and another plays a drum. A large sail is above them. — Pearl fishers on their ship (fjirī), 1970s. Unknown photographer. The photo is a copy of one from the now-defunct Center for Folk Heritage of the Arabian Gulf Countries in Doha, Qatar.

Several men in white robes sit on a rug facing each other and play instruments and clap their hands. — Pearl fishers’ ensemble (fjirī), Manama, Bahrain, 1996. Courtesy of Scheherazade Hassan.

A nested set of golden brown hand drums sit on a striped rug. — Pearl fishers’ ensemble, Manama, Bahrain, 1996. Courtesy of Scheherazade Hassan.

A man stands in front of a white wall on which hang a number of various hand drums. — Musical instruments used in various performances in the Arabian Gulf. This collection belongs to a dār, a house for culture, in Manama, Bahrain, 1996. Courtesy of Scheherazade Hassan.

Various hand drums, some written with arabic script, hang on a white wall. — Collection of Gulf musical instruments in a dār, a house for culture, in Manama, Bahrain, 1996. Courtesy of Scheherazade Hassan.

A line of men in white robes and holding staffs stands near an athletic field and listens to another man giving directions. — An `ayyāla ensemble, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates, 1998. Courtesy of Scheherazade Hassan.

Men in white robes stand in a row near an athletic field and face other men who are playing instruments. — An `ayyāla ensemble, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates, 1998. Courtesy of Scheherazade Hassan.

Men in white robes stand in a row near an athletic field facing other men holding instruments. — An `ayyāla ensemble, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates, 1998. Courtesy of Scheherazade Hassan.

Five men in white robes stand near an urban street and play their drums. — An `ayyāla group, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates, 1998. Courtesy of Scheherazade Hassan.

A man sitting on pillows and an oriental rug plays an ‘ūd while other men watch. — Fann al-ṣawt, Bahrain, 1996. Courtesy of Scheherazade Hassan.

A man sits on a oriental rug and plays an ‘ūd. — Fann al-ṣawt, with the ‘ūd player Ahmad al-Jumairi, Manama, Bahrain, 1996. Courtesy of Scheherazade Hassan.

A woman in white robes looks at the camera and stands beside a large vertical drum on which are placed two horn-like instruments. — A srnaj played with drums in a hewa performance by Afro-Arab populations in southern Iraq and the Gulf region. Here, a woman has the spiritual function to direct the space. Manama, Bahrain, 1996. Courtesy of Scheherazade Hassan.

Seven men in mostly grey robes and head coverings kneel along two edges of a red rug in an ornate grey room and watch an eighth man in a dark robe play an instrument. — Al-`Ayyāla Bedouin Ensemble performing at a concert at the Institute du Monde Arabe in Paris, 1998. Courtesy of Scheherazade Hassan.

A musician in a dark robe and white head covering sits with other men on a red rug. he holds a wooden instrument and smiles at the camera. — Al-`Ayyāla Bedouin Ensemble performing at a concert at the Institute du Monde Arabe in Paris, 1998. Courtesy of Scheherazade Hassan.

Men in red-checked head coverings and black vests play trumpets, drums, and other instruments near a clay wall and a palm tree. — A group in Bahrain performing the Afro-Arab art of heewah, 1996. Courtesy of Scheherazade Hassan.

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Archives of Traditional Music