Music in Kuwait



Music in Kuwait

Introduction

Kuwait has been known to enjoy an enriched musical culture because of the huge diversity in its society. The music within Kuwait had been highly documented before the advent of Gulf War when Iraq conducted invasion of Kuwait and thus destroyed the documented records pertaining to music. However, till recently Kuwait has enjoyed a prominent musical industry, consisting of time duration before the war and after the war. The core nature and attributes of Kuwaiti music reflects the huge role of diversity within the Kuwaiti culture since the Kuwaiti community is characterized by diverse people belonging to diverse ethnicities. Swahili and Indian music has been known to exist in a huge majority within the context of Kuwait. Since there are a huge number of Indians residing in Kuwait, the Indian music has gained popularity at a rapid pace (Urkevich, 2009).

Sawt enjoys a high degree of popularity in the context of musical industry in Kuwait. The bluesy sound associated with sawt made it hugely popular in the 1970's. As a result of the enormous popularity of sawt, Kuwait was given the title of Center of Sawt music. Nabil Shaeil is presently one of the most renowned Sawt artists in Kuwait. Apart from sawt music, East African and Indian music has been known to rule the msucial charts of Kuwait.

Discussion

Kuwait is considered as being a center in addition to Bahrain in the adoption of sawt as a bluesy musical style that gained popularity due to the efforts of Shadi al Khaleej (the bird song of the Gulf). Shadi al Khaleej is considered as a pioneer of the sawt musical style that also includes influences from Europop and techno in their sawt musical style. Kuwaiti sawt musicians are known to be highly popular across the gulf region where not only Kuwait is existent but there are also other gulf states such as Bahrain, Oman and Dubai. The Kuwaiti musical lifestyle also comprises of other groups such as Guitara Band and Al-Budoor Band.

The traditional Kuwaiti music is performed by a majority of women in private with the all female bands performing for the different public celebrations. If we look at the history of Kuwait, most women never participated in the public celebrations because of the different conservative laws. There are different instruments used for presenting the different musical styles such as drums, milwas and clapping. In addition, the traditional Arabic instruments are also utilized in a great variety so that appropriate feel is developed in the context of the distinct Kuwaiti musical styles. The Arabic instruments consisting of Kamaan, kanoon and oud are specific examples of the musical instruments used in a high majority within the traditional musical culture of Kuwait. The Bedouin are quite prominent in the context of instrument like rubabah and the tanbarah, oud and habban (bagpipe) are also used quite extensively within the scope of musical culture of Kuwait (Abdulla, 2010).

The wedding songs consist of Al-Fann that enjoys a highly melodious tone ...