Kuwaiti singing was basically affected by the Kuwaiti nature and the people's strong bond with the deep blue sea which is the foundation of art in the Gulf, according to the Kuwaiti News Agency (KUNA).
Kuwaiti musical consultant Saleh Hamdan Al Harbi told the agency that people in the Gulf area used the sound of seas to express the images of their daily life using daily tools as musical instruments, like the pestle and mortar. They also used their water jars made of porcelain by hitting on top of it and on the sides to produce the sound of waves in addition to using Al Merwas, which is an instrument similar to the guitar but smaller and simpler.
This beautiful old tradition became the foundation of sailors singing and is shaped according to the palace it is used in, for instance, sailors wail while singing to express the difficulty of sailors’ life using beautiful short musical passage according to the work they do to make their job easier.
Sailors also use Al Nahem, which is a kind of prayer to express the sailors’ psychology of being away from home and family and help him ease his pain and agony. Al Nahem is often started with prayers upon the prophet Mohammed paying thanks to god seeking his help in easing their tasks. Each kind of work in the ship has its own style of singing and prayers, all according to the difficulties of each task, using two forms of musical poetry and group singing called Shelia usually formed by fixed verses and chanting while moving the ship to the sea to encourage group work.
Kuwaiti sailors’ songs were also strongly affected by Indian and African songs due to their constant traveling to these areas and long trips which force them to meet with many nationalities and new languages. Sailors used Indian and foreign languages in their daily life in the ship which was then used in the Kuwaiti society as part of the Kuwaiti dialect.
The art of singing in Kuwait developed from its tradition and nature and still exist in today’s songs, especially their musical instrument which adds the significant touch of the sailors’ life and the difficult life of Kuwaiti people in the past – Albawaba.com
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