| Part ofa series on the |
| Culture of Bahrain |
|---|
 |
| History |
| People |
| Languages |
| Cuisine |
| Religion |
| Art |
| Literature |
| Sport |
Music and performing arts |
Monuments |
Themusic ofBahrain is part of thePersian Gulf folk traditions. AlongsideKuwait, it is known forsawt music, abluesy genre influenced byAfrican,Indian andPersian music. Sultan Hamid,Ali Bahar andKhaled El Sheikh (a singer andoud player) are among the most popular musicians from Bahrain.[1]
Bahrain was the site of the first Persian Gulf-basedrecording studio, established afterWorld War II.[2] Modern music institutions in Bahrain include theBahrain Music Institute, theBahrain Orchestra and theClassical Institute of Music. The Bahraini male-onlypearl diving tradition is known for the songs calledfidjeri.[3]
Liwa andFann at-Tanbura are types of music and dance performed mainly in communities of descendants ofBantu peoples from theAfrican Great Lakes region.
Khaleeji is a style of Persian Gulf-area folk music, played in Bahrain withpolyrhythms. The style is strongly influenced by themusic of Africa. Khaleeji singerAli Bahar is one of the few Bahraini pop stars to sing in a local dialect, along with his band Al Ekhwa.[4]
In Bahrain, the early pioneers ofsawt were Mohammed Faris and Dhabi bin Walid in the pre-World War II era. Both recorded theirsawt music inHis Master's Voice's studio inBaghdad in 1932.[2] Their recordings became widely popular in Bahrain and Kuwait.[2]
The Bahrainisawt style became the predominant style ofsawt in thePersian Gulf region.[2]
The band BahrainiOsiris has achieved some international renown since the 1980s with its style ofprogressive rock, most recently including elements of Bahraini folk music.[5]
There is also aheavy metal andhard rock community in the country, with bands writing and performing original songs. Pioneering bands on the Island includeMotör Militia,Smouldering In Forgotten andThe Mushroom Massacre (members of The Mushroom Massacre went on to formLunacyst and most recentlyDeath Box Audio). Popular bands in the Kingdom also includeMUST,The Relocators,Mo zowayed,Bloodshel andHot Laser. A community of singer-songwriters has also been active in Bahrain, withAla Ghawas being among the first of them in the early 2000s. There are some fusion-projects, too – oftentimes mixing influences such as Middle Eastern music tradition with rock - such as Majaz and Aalaat. There is also a small yet activeelectronic dance music in Bahrain with several producers/DJs, making music in the genres such as techno, house, and trance.
