Traditional / folk music of Bahrain
The folk music ofKingdom of Bahrain is a small country in in Persian Gulf. From one side neighbor to Qatar and from another side is Saudi Arabia. Bahrain was the first country in Persian Gulf who got explored for the oil. But later also they invest in banking and tourism. This Arab country has been part of Iran for long time in the history, then for a while it was under the rule of Al Khalifa royal family and later Bahrain became a protectorate of the United Kingdom and finally on 1972 Bahrain got independent and became part of Arab League. Today United State fifth fleet is in Bahrain.
Bahrain has a rich genres of traditional and folk music. Traditional music of Bahrain is influence by Persian, African and Indian folk music. But in general, Bahrain is part of the folk Persian Gulf music the same as other Arabic country in Persian Gulf. The folk music of these countries are very close and sometimes hard to distinguish. Bahrain traditional music usually dominant just by men.
Some notable genres of folk music of Bahrain are:
Sawt Music
This type of folk music is mostly popular and dominant in Bahrain and Kuwait. Sawt means “voice”. This music is played with oud (kind of lute) and accompanied by violin, mirwās (kind of drum), zinjārī, dumbuk ( kind of percussions). The music is men gathering ceremony and sometimes accompanied by dance too.Sawt music is consist of different modes.
Fijiri or Fjiri
This type of folk music is also for men and it is a vocal music and sung by pearl divers. A group of churros accompany the main singer with hand clapping and singing.
Liwa
This type of folk music is very common in most of Arabic countries in Persian Gulf. The root of this folk music comes from Africa. Large number of men stand up in a circle and accompanied by several drum player and one person stay on the center. He plays kind of reed instrument named mizmar. The circle dance and clap in a rhythmic way.
Khaliji Music
This type of folk music is also common in most of Arabic countries in Persian Gulf and its root comes back to Africa. Khaliji music means Gulf music. Oud and violin are the main instruments in this type of folk music. It is also accompanied by different percussion instruments like mirwās and daf.Khaliji is not dominant by men and women are also sing it.
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Traditional / folk songs for Bahrain
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