Booming drums, rhythmic handclaps, and melodic voices – this is the story of the years of trade between the Persian Gulf and Africa’s Swahili coast. The music incorporates traditional instruments and moving sounds that trace the history of commerce and its cultural exchanges. This is a story in song that Kuwaiti band Boom.Diwan aims to share and preserve.
On Monday, March 4, New York University’s Abu Dhabi Institute in New York hosted a presentation entitled “Boom Diwan: Musical Cosmopolitanism from the Arabian Gulf to the Swahili Coast,” a presentation on Arab, African, and other regional music. Transmission through culture was elaborated. Ensemble performance.The presentation began with the introduction of the musical group. Boom Diwan Before explaining the historical and cultural significance of the music the artist performs.
Ghazi Faisal Al Mullaifi is a .usic Visiting Assistant Professor at New York University’s Abu Dhabi campus, a New York University graduate, and the leader of the world-renowned music group Boom.Diwan. The ensemble’s work is rooted in traditional Kuwait. Bari Or the music of the sea, played by Kuwaiti sailors to improve their arduous journey and soothe the hardships of being away from home. After many years of travel, this music reflects the long history of commercial and, more importantly, cultural trade in the Indian Ocean. For Al Mullaifi, it’s also a family tradition inherited from family members who were sailors and pearl divers.
Al Mullaifi said that none of the instruments used in Baari music are of Kuwaiti origin, which speaks to the region’s rich cultural exchange. In his performance, Boom Diwan used the tabla, a type of drum, the mirwa, a type of drum originating from the Swahili coast, and the jaala, a clay vessel-shaped instrument from South Asia.
These instruments worked together to create an impressive sound that echoed throughout the small presentation room. The performers also incorporated handclaps into the song, which echoed and amplified the power of the music. With the reverberations of deep bass, both viewers and listeners will feel as if they are boarding a pearl submersible, and can immerse themselves in the power of the music.
Although the musical aspects are prioritized, certain sections are accompanied by lyrics that document the hardships of working on a ship and the accompanying nostalgia. Along with the song, the performance takes on a soulful, almost haunting tone.
After the performance of Boom Diwan, Andrew Eisenberg, program director and associate professor of music at NYU Abu Dhabi, explained the historical background of the song and the many cross-cultural exchanges that led to such a fusion of music. did.Is it Kuwait? Bari or Swahili taarab, the music found on the Kenyan coast, is a playful recreation of Arab and African sounds that anyone can hear. Rhythms and melodies come back across the ocean, musically connecting these places to each other.
“Because the people who created it didn’t have a concept of a nation, they didn’t really think about tradition and culture, they were just surviving,” al-Mulaifi said in the presentation. “This music reflects their sense of freedom, their sense of adventure, their sense of play, their creativity. For us, as inheritors of this tradition, it is important to bring back that spirit, to take play seriously and to respect music. And it is very important to learn from Diwaniyah. [communal space] And to release it. ”
Although pearl diving is no longer commonly practiced in Kuwait and other countries along the Persian Gulf, Boom.Diwan’s performance preserves this cultural heritage. Today, the band performs all over the world and continues to incorporate influences from other cultures, as well as collaborate with other musical groups.
This presentation and performance kicks off the ensemble’s week-long residency in New York City, where they will perform with jazz musician and Afro-Latin jazz group leader Arturo O’Farrill of Chico O’Farrill. If you want to hear these impressive sounds for yourself, check out Boom.Diwan at Joe’s Pub, 425 Lafayette St. where they play Thursday 9:30pm, Friday 6:30pm
Contact Leila Anderson. [email protected].
Boom.Diwan Pianist (WSN’s Alisha Goel)