The music of

Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of ...

has been strongly affected by the country's coastal location, with Omani sailors interacting with, and bringing back music from,

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...

and elsewhere. More recently, a

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

occupation has left its own marks, while geographic neighbors like the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia ( The Middle East). It is located at t ...

Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

and

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

have also had a profound influence. In contrast to other Arab countries, Omani traditional music has a strong emphasis on

rhythm Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular re ...

. Traditional music marks all the stages in the life of an Omani, including birth, circumcision, marriage and death. In contrast to many Arab countries, all Omanis participate in music, men and women, young and old. Liwa and

Fann at-Tanbura Fann aṭ-Ṭanbūra ( ar, فن الطنبورة) is a traditional music and dance genre in the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, especially Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman. Musically, the '' tanbūra'' instrument plays a central role, along with several dr ...

are types of music and dance performed mainly in communities of descendants of

Bantu peoples The Bantu peoples, or Bantu, are an ethnolinguistic grouping of approximately 400 distinct ethnic groups who speak Bantu languages. They are native to 24 countries spread over a vast area from Central Africa to Southeast Africa and into Souther ...

from the

African Great Lakes The African Great Lakes ( sw, Maziwa Makuu; rw, Ibiyaga bigari) are a series of lakes constituting the part of the Rift Valley lakes in and around the East African Rift. They include Lake Victoria, the second-largest fresh water lake in th ...

region. The

Omani Centre for Traditional Music Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of t ...

claims that

Arabic music Arabic music or Arab music ( ar, الموسيقى العربية, al-mūsīqā al-ʿArabīyyah) is the music of the Arab world with all its diverse music styles and genres. Arabic countries have many rich and varied styles of music and also man ...

in Oman can be characterized by "tetrachords with typical Arabic intervals, including three-quarter tones taken from the Arabic musical scales; the maqamat".OCTM - Melodic instruments
Notable Omani musicians include Salim Rashid Suri, the "Singing Sailor", a 20th-century singer and

oud , image=File:oud2.jpg , image_capt=Syrian oud made by Abdo Nahat in 1921 , background= , classification= * String instruments *Necked bowl lutes , hornbostel_sachs=321.321-6 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded with a plectrum , ...

player from Sur who combined strains of the ṣawt of the northern

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The bod ...

and other musical traditions of the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by t ...

as a pioneer of the genre called Ṣawt al-Khaleej ("Voice of the Gulf"). There is also a very small underground metal scene with bands like Arabia and Belos emerging from there, the former moving to the UK.

Notes

References

OCTM - Melodic instruments
*Traditional Arts in Southern Arabia. Music and Society in Sohar, Sultanate of Oman / Dieter Christensen, Salwa El-Shawan Castelo-Branco.- Intercultural Music Studies Vol. 14, 248 p., 118 photos, graphics and musical transcriptions, 2 CDs + 1 DVD. * (fr
Maho Sebiane, « Dieter Christensen et Salwa El-Shawan Castelo-Branco : Traditional Arts in Southern Arabia. Music and Society in Sohar, Sultanate of Oman » Book review , Chroniques yéménites 17 , 2012
/nowiki>] * (fr
Maho Sebiane, "Entre l’Afrique et l’Arabie : les esprits de possession sawahili et leurs frontières", Journal des africanistes, 84-2 , 2014, 48-79.
* (en) Maho Sebiane, Beyond the leiwah of Eastern Arabia Structure of a possession rite in the longue durée, Música em Contexto, Brasília Nº. 1 (2017): 13-44 * (fr) Maho Sebiane "Nuisances et chaos des Vents. Expressions de l’agressivité dans un rite de possession en Arabie orientale", Cahiers d’ethnomusicologie 33, 2020: 113-131 {{Music of Asia Omani music,

See also

Notes

References