Buzzing drums, rhythmic clapping and melodic singing — this is the yearslong story of trading between the Persian Gulf and Africa’s Swahili coast. This music embraces traditional instruments and moving sounds that trace the mercantile history and its cultural exchanges. It’s a narrative in song, one which the Kuwaiti band Boom.Diwan is intent on sharing and preserving.
On Monday, March 4, the NYU Abu Dhabi Institute in New York hosted a presentation titled “Boom.Diwan: Musical Cosmopolitanism from the Arabian Gulf to the Swahili Coast,” which detailed the transmission of Arab, African, and other regional music through the ensemble’s performances. The presentation began with an introduction to the music group Boom.Diwan before explaining the historical and cultural significance of the music the artists perform.
Ghazi Faisal Al-Mulaifi, a visiting assistant professor of .usic at NYU’s Abu Dhabi campus and NYU alum, is the leader of the world-renowned music group Boom.Diwan. The ensemble’s work is rooted in traditional Kuwaiti bahri — or sea music — performed by Kuwaiti seamen to improve their laborious journeys and cure the difficulties of being away from home. After years of travel, this music reflects a long history of commercial — and more importantly cultural — trading in the Indian Ocean. For Al-Mulaifi, it is also a family tradition that he inherited from his family members who had been seamen and pearl divers.
Al-Mulaifi shared that none of the instruments used in bahri music originate from Kuwait and as such, it speaks to the region’s rich cultural exchanges. In their performance, Boom.Diwan used a tabla, a type of drum, a mirwas, a type of drum originating from the Swahili coast, and a jahla, a clay, vessel-shaped instrument from South Asia.
Together, these instruments created striking sounds that reverberated throughout the small presentation room. The musicians also incorporated clapping into the songs, which echoed and amplified the power of the music even more. With the booming of the bass, viewers and listeners alike feel as though they are being transported onto a pearl diving ship, becoming immersed thanks to the power of this music.
Although the instrumental aspect takes precedence in this music, lyrics do accompany certain portions, which chronicle the hardships of working on a ship and the homesickness that comes with it. With the singing, the performance takes on a soulful — almost even haunting — tone.
After Boom.Diwan’s performance, Andrew Eisenberg, the program head and associate professor of music at NYU Abu Dhabi, explained the historical context of the songs and the many cross-cultural exchanges that have led to such musical merging. Whether it is Kuwaiti bahri or Swahili taarab, music found on the Kenyan coast, any listener can hear the playful reimagination of Arab and African sounds. Rhythms and melodies have traveled across the ocean and back, musically linking these places to each other.
“Because the people who created it had no concept of the nation, they weren’t really thinking about heritage or culture, they were just surviving,” Al-Mulaifi said in the presentation. “This music really reflected their sense of freedom, their sense of adventure, their sense of play, and their creativity. As heirs to this tradition, it is very important to us to reclaim that spirit, to take play very seriously, to respect the music, to learn out of the diwaniya [communal space] and to set it free.”
Although pearl diving is no longer as commonly practiced in Kuwait and other countries along the Persian Gulf, Boom.Diwan’s performances preserve this cultural heritage. Today, the band performs around the world and continues to incorporate influences from other cultures as well as collaborate with other music groups.
This presentation and performance marked the beginning of the ensemble’s week-long residency in New York City where they will be performing with Arturo O’Farrill, a jazz musician and the leader of the Afro-Latin jazz group, Chico O’Farril. If you want to listen to these impressive sounds yourself, check out Boom.Diwan at Joe’s Pub on 425 Lafayette St., where they will be performing on Thursday at 9:30 p.m. and Friday at 6:30 p.m.
Contact Leila Anderson at culture@nyunews.com.
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