Arabian Pearl Diving
Khaliji music encompasses traditional folkloric music with its blend of Bedouin, Persian, Indian and African elements, as well as classical forms such as mawwal and sawt, and now electric pop music. Starting with the folkloric realm, one of the most fascinating genres is pearl diving songs. Pearl diving songs are found in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi, but Bahrain is center of the diving and the songs.
Once the island nation’s most important industry, diving was in decline even before oil was discovered in 1932. Diving for pearls probably sounds a little obscure, or exotic today. But if you think back to before the discovery of oil, it was the number one industry in the Arabian Gulf. That, aside from gold smuggling, was the king.
Bahrain had 1500 pearl diving boats in 1833, just 340 in 1934. But before that, tradition seems to go back some 4000 years. Pearl divers included Africans (originally slaves) as well as Indians and Sri Lankans. And that complex legacy is audible in the powerful, hypnotic music that survives today.
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www.afropop.org/multi/feature/ID/692