Ahmed Ali Al-Salihi. Musical Instruments Used in the Performance of Sawt (sound)

Bio

Ahmed Ali Al-Salihi holds a PhD from Royal Holloway, University of London, UK, specializing in Ethnomusicology. He works as a lecturer at the Higher Institute of Musical Arts, and specializes in playing the violin in traditional Arabic performance methods, and plays the oud and specializes in vocals. He prepared and presented a number of specialized music programs, including Al-Sawt and its pioneers, and the Dukhina program. He presented a number of research papers, including Abdul Latif Al-Kuwaiti’s book in the period of stone cylinders: 1927-1947, and a research paper entitled “Marine Singing in Kuwait: Reality and Challenges”.

Musical Instruments Used in the Performance of Sawt (sound)

The sawt (sound) is a type of urban singing that was prevalent in Kuwait and the rest of the Arabian Gulf for decades, and it is still widespread and popular in the region. The sawt has a musical peculiarity that distinguishes it from other types of singing in the Gulf and the Arabian Peninsula, and this peculiarity includes many aspects such as melodies, rhythmic weights, dances, terms and many others. Musical instruments are also important properties of sawt identification, as sawtcan only be performed through specific musical and percussion instruments. Therefore, in this lecture, the lecturer will shed light on the quality of musical instruments and tools used in the performance of sawt of all kinds, whether they are instruments that are still in use by musicians or instruments that have disappeared today. The lecture will discuss the types and characteristics of these musical instruments, the most prominent players, the terms used, and the non-musical instruments applied, such as clapping, as a complementary rhythmic element to performing the sawt in the traditional way.