Music of Bahrain
Encyclopedia
The music of Bahrain
is part of the pan-Gulf khaleeji
folk traditions. It is also known (alongside Kuwait
) for sawt music, a blues
y genre influenced by Africa
n, India
n and Persian music. Sultan Hamid, Ali Bahar and Khalid al Shaikh (a singer and oud
player) are among the most popular musicians from Bahrain.
The band Bahraini Osiris has achieved some international renown since the 1980s with its style of progressive rock
, most recently including elements of Bahraini folk music.
There is also a strong heavy metal
and Hard rock
community in the country, with many groups writing and performing original songs. The 3 main bands in the history of the community include thrash metal
band Motör Militia
, Black Metal band Smouldering in Forgotten and Death Metal band Lunacyst.
Modern music institutions in Bahrain include the Bahrain Music Institute, the Bahrain Orchestra and the Classical Institute of Music. The Bahraini male-only pearl diving tradition is known for the songs called fidjeri.
Liwa
and Fann at-Tanbura
are types of music and dance performed mainly in communities which contain descendants of East Africans.
s. The style is strongly influenced by the music of Africa
. Khaleeji singer Ali Bahar is one of the few Bahraini pop stars to sing in a local dialect, along with his band Al Ekhwa
.
Bahrain
' , officially the Kingdom of Bahrain , is a small island state near the western shores of the Persian Gulf. It is ruled by the Al Khalifa royal family. The population in 2010 stood at 1,214,705, including 235,108 non-nationals. Formerly an emirate, Bahrain was declared a kingdom in 2002.Bahrain is...
is part of the pan-Gulf khaleeji
Khaleeji
Khaleeji , Arabic for "of the gulf", can refer to:* Gulf Arabic, a dialect of the Arabic language spoken around the shores of the Persian Gulf.* Anything associated with the Arab states of the Persian Gulf...
folk traditions. It is also known (alongside Kuwait
Kuwait
The State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south at Khafji, and Iraq to the north at Basra. It lies on the north-western shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is derived from the...
) for sawt music, a blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
y genre influenced by Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
n, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n and Persian music. Sultan Hamid, Ali Bahar and Khalid al Shaikh (a singer and oud
Oud
The oud is a pear-shaped stringed instrument commonly used in North African and Middle Eastern music. The modern oud and the European lute both descend from a common ancestor via diverging paths...
player) are among the most popular musicians from Bahrain.
The band Bahraini Osiris has achieved some international renown since the 1980s with its style of progressive rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
, most recently including elements of Bahraini folk music.
There is also a strong heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
and Hard rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
community in the country, with many groups writing and performing original songs. The 3 main bands in the history of the community include thrash metal
Thrash metal
Thrash metal is a subgenre of heavy metal that is characterized usually by its fast tempo and aggression. Songs of the genre typically use fast percussive and low-register guitar riffs, overlaid with shredding-style lead work...
band Motör Militia
Motör Militia
Motör Militia is a Bahraini heavy metal/thrash metal band. They are regarded as one of the first metal bands of their genre in the Persian Gulf/Middle East area to record and release a full length album of original material on an independent label.In 2003, Motör Militia built a following based on...
, Black Metal band Smouldering in Forgotten and Death Metal band Lunacyst.
Modern music institutions in Bahrain include the Bahrain Music Institute, the Bahrain Orchestra and the Classical Institute of Music. The Bahraini male-only pearl diving tradition is known for the songs called fidjeri.
Liwa
Liwa (music)
Līwa is a traditional dance performed in the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, mainly in communities of descendants of East Africans from the Swahili Coast...
and Fann at-Tanbura
Fann at-Tanbura
Fann aṭ-Ṭanbūra is a traditional music and dance genre in the Persian Gulf Arab states, especially Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman. Musically, the tanbura instrument plays a central role, along with several drums and the manjur -- an instrument made of several goat hooves wrapped around the waist of the...
are types of music and dance performed mainly in communities which contain descendants of East Africans.
Khaleeji
Khaleeji is a style of Persian Gulf-area folk music, played in Bahrain with polyrhythmPolyrhythm
Polyrhythm is the simultaneous sounding of two or more independent rhythms.Polyrhythm in general is a nonspecific term for the simultaneous occurrence of two or more conflicting rhythms, of which cross-rhythm is a specific and definable subset.—Novotney Polyrhythms can be distinguished from...
s. The style is strongly influenced by the music of Africa
Music of Africa
Africa is a vast continent and its regions and nations have distinct musical traditions. The music of North Africa for the most part has a different history from sub-Saharan African music traditions....
. Khaleeji singer Ali Bahar is one of the few Bahraini pop stars to sing in a local dialect, along with his band Al Ekhwa
Al Ekhwa
Al Ekhwa band " The Brothers " is a Bahraini musical band that was formed by the widely Bahraini known performer of the western music singer/guitarist Ali Bahar in 1986. They were called variously Al Sakhra " The Stone " But finally the band name got changed to Al Ekhwa " The Brothers "...
.