The History of Recording in the Gulf Area (1)

The Arab Music Archiving and Research foundation (AMAR), in collaboration with the Sharjah Art Foundation (SAF), presents “Min al-T?r?kh”.

Dear listeners,

Welcome to a new episode of “ Min al-T?r?kh ”.

Today’s discussion about the History of Recording in the Arabian Gulf will be conducted by Mr. Kamal Kassar and an expert on the subject, Mr. Ahmad al-Salihi.

Welcome Mr. Ahmad.

Hello Mr. Kamal.

Could you tell us about the beginning of the recording era in Kuwait?

Non-commercial discs as well as commercial discs were recorded in Kuwait.

The non-commercial ones first appeared towards the end of Sheikh Mub?rak al-?abb??’s era, i.e. between 1912 and 1915. A man from Zubayr in Iraq arrived in Kuwait and opened a café where he played cylinder records on an Edison cylinder recorder/record player he had brought along with him (cylinder records are called “Umm gl?s” in Kuwait where k ?b (glass) is called “gl?s”). So, “Umm gl?s”, i.e cylinder records, reached Kuwait through this Zubayri man who recorded an old Kuwaiti mu ? rib Kh?lid al-Bakr –who died in 1925. He recorded a collection of songs and played them in the café, which obviously attracted a lot of attention. Moreover, people were scared because this was the first time they had ever heard recorded voices.

The Crown Prince at the time S?lim al-?abb?? –the son of Kuwait’s leader Sheikh Mub?rak– who was religious and had apprehensions concerning recordings, forbade them while his father was away on a trip and he was in charge of Kuwait… he may even have exiled the Zubayri man who took his records to Bahrain where their destiny remains unknown. I did learn something though from Bahraini mu ? rib Mu?ammad ‘?sa ‘All?ya –of Kuwaiti origin, who was born and died in Bahrain– who used to interpret Bahraini ?awt . The deceased ‘All?ya said that as a child he heard a cylinder recording of Kh?lid al-Bakr, and probably made by this same Zubayri person. These known listed records were non-commercial recordings, and this is the first Kuwaiti recording known to us.

Are any of these records left that we can listen to?

No, we do not know what happened to them. No source has ever mentioned them, except for ‘All?ya’s story. They are not mentioned in any Bahraini source. Later on, commercial recording reached Kuwait, after Iraqi, Egyptian, Turkish and Persian records had arrived there. Some books mention that those records were well accepted by some and ill received by others. In an interview, ??li? al-Kuwayt? said that he used to listen to records from Egypt, Iraq, Turkey and the Levant as a child, and interpreted a song of Mun?ra al-Mahdiyya whose record he used to listen to in Kuwait, when Kuwaitis had not yet started to make recordings and only listened to them.

The Kuwaiti recording era started in 1927 when ?asan Darsa, Baidaphon’s representative in Basra, was requested to scout for local talents. He first conducted a survey in South Iraq including in Al-‘Im?ra and Al-N??iriyya, and discovered ?u?ayr? Ab? ‘Az?z, N??ir ?ak?m and D?khil ?asan later on, and Shkhayyir Sul??n, Mas‘?d ‘Am?ratl? among many mu ? rib who recorded with Baidaphon this same year, i.e. between 1926 and 1927 as mentioned by some Iraqi sources. So this first survey in Iraq possibly took place in 1926.

In 1927, this Baidaphon delegation conducted a survey outside Iraq, starting with the closest country, i.e. Kuwait. It is said that they met with numerous young mu ? rib , many of whom refused, including unknown mu ? rib Far??n Ab? Sh?yi‘ who mentioned in an old interview that he was asked by a recording company to record his voice and refused because he disliked the idea and felt scared.

They also met with the only recorded 19 ^th century mu ? rib as all the others were from the 20 ^th century, born in the 20 ^th or the late 19 ^th , imbued with this era’s culture/influence. The mu ? rib I am referring to is Y?suf al-Bakr, the brother of Kh?lid al-Bakr who recorded on a cylinder record as mentioned earlier. The younger brother Y?suf al-Bakr, born in 1870 or 1875, is among those who learned their art from the old mu ? rib and followed the old system. He agreed to record and went with the recording company to Basra where he had a disagreement with the representative who wanted a ‘?d ist and a violinist to accompany Al-Bakr’s performance. Al-Bakr replied that he was a ‘?d ist himself, that he did not want any other ‘?d ist to accompany him, and left. Another major refusal came from Far??n Ab? Sh?yi‘.

Those who agreed include ??li? ‘Abd al-Razz?q al-Naq? –a mu ? rib who only recorded this collection with Baidaphon then stopped because he was a trader–; ‘Abd al-La??f al-Kuwayt?; ??li? ‘Izr? al-Kuwayt?; D?w?d ‘Izr? al-Kuwayt?; along with ?abl and mirw?s player Su‘?d al-Makh?y?a. These went with the representative to Basra where they stayed for two days then took the train to Baghdad where they made a collection of records starting with a “ ?awt ‘arab? ” record: mu ? rib ‘Abd al-La??f al-Kuwayt?’s “ ‘Aw?dhil dh?t al-kh?l f?-h? ?aw?sidu” accompanied by ??li? al-Kuwayt? ( kam?n ), D?w?d al-Kuwayt? ( ‘?d ), and Su‘?d al-Makh?y?a ( mirw?s ).

Mr. Ahmad, will you play for us something from these records?

Yes. ‘Abd al-La??f al-Kuwayt? made seven records including ?awt “ ‘Aw?dhil dh?t al-kh?l f?-h? ?aw?sidu”, ?awt “Wa-q?’ilatun lamm? aradta wad?‘ah?”, istim?‘ “Bada wa-ranat”, ?awt “?arrak shuj?n? wa-iltih?b?”, a fast pace ?awt khay?l? “Wa-qad k?nat tud?r ‘alayya r??un”, as well as s?miriyya “??r? y?-ll? ‘ala ?ard al-hawa m? ymill?”, ?awt “Wa-All?h wa-All?h m? dar?t”, ?awt arab? “ ‘Alimtum bi-ann? mughramun bi-kum ?ab?”.

We can listen to “Wa-All?h wa-All?h m? dar?t”.

One year later in 1928, Odeon’s representative in Basra Shaf?q ?b?ra invited ‘Abd al-La??f al-Kuwayt? to make a record accompanied by mirw?s player Su‘?d al-Makh?y?a who had also accompanied him in his Baidaphon recordings. ??li? and D?w?d were both living in Baghdad, so they all met up and recorded a larger collection of records.

Mirw?s and ?abl player Su‘?d al-Makh?y?a also recorded melodies with the same record company, thus joining this group of mu ? rib .

‘Abd al-La??f al-Kuwayt? recorded with Odeon in Baghdad around 10 or 12 records that were very varied and included some of the tunes he had already recorded with Baidaphon. Moreover, he was accompanied for the first time by a q ? n ?n –an instrument unknown to Kuwaitis until then– played by Iraqi q ? n ?n ist ?ay?n Cohen who had accompanied Mu?ammad al-Qubbanj? in his famous Berlin recordings and ?ab?ba Mas?ka in Berlin, added to other great Iraqi mu ? rib . ??li? al-Kuwayt? accompanied him on the kam ?n and D?w?d al-Kuwayt? on the ‘ ? d .

Su‘?d al-Makh?y?a’s recordings include the same band excluding the q ? n ?n , including the ‘ ? d and the violin, with the mu ? rib himself playing the percussions as Su‘?d al-Makh?y?a played the mirw?s and sang lightly.

‘Abd al-La??f recorded a few istim?‘ and ?awt , added to other forms he had not recorded the first time, including khamm?r? and fann (art), the latter being a typical Kuwaiti form including fann najd? , fann ?as?w? , etc… He recorded fann , khamm?r?, and ?awt –obviously the major form–, and performed a larger variety of types in Kuwait.

Which Odeon recording will you play for us now?

I would like to play for you ?awt “Y? bad?‘ al-jam?l” by ‘Abd al-La??f. He repeated the same tune on the second record-side with another qa??da “Ya ?am?m, ya ?am?m” that became one of the most famous ?awt of the Kuwaiti repertoire. Even Nazim al-Ghazali who has a song on the Arab Nation, chose to interpret “Y? bad?‘ al-jam?l” when he visited Kuwait, as a symbol of Kuwait or maybe the Gulf in general.

In October 1929, ‘Abd al-La??f al-Kuwayt?’s Odeon records sold out very quickly, and the satisfied record company asked him to record again. He agreed of course and went with ‘ ? d ist Ma?m?d al-Kuwayt? to Baghdad where he was told he would record in Cairo because the recording machine was not available… It seems there was only one recording machine that was taken from one Arab capital or region to another.

At that time, the machine was in Cairo, so ‘Abd al-La??f al-Kuwayt? left Baghdad and went to Cairo’s Odeon studios in Musk? where he met with numerous Arab and Egyptian artists such as Umm Kulth?m and ‘Abd al-Wah?b, and recorded with S?m? al-Shaww? a collection of ?awt and other Kuwaiti fann . He was accompanied by Ma?m?d al-Kuwayt? ( ‘ ? d ) who was recording for the first time, and later recorded as a mu ? rib , added to his ‘ ? d playing with ‘Abd al-La??f whom he also sang with.

‘Abd al-La??f recorded a very large collection with Odeon, starting with 6 or 7 records and ending up with 10 or 11. To our knowledge, he also recorded 20 or more records with Odeon in Cairo, but there may be more.

He recorded with S?m? al-Shaww? a collection to a beautiful style: we are acquainted with S?m? al-Shaww?’s Egyptian or Oriental style, and with his Arabic and Turkish musical pieces. Yet he seems to have adopted a totally different personality in his interpretation of ?awt , influenced by Kuwaiti instrumentalists. This influence added to his personal style resulted in a new beautiful style that marked his Kuwaiti recordings.

Play for us a special piece played by S ? m ? al-Shaww ? with this new Kuwaiti style he adopted.

We will listen to ‘Abd al-La??f al-Kuwayt? singing the simple lyrics of “Fazzi qalb? fazzi qalb?”, a fann badaw? s?mir? –the s?mir? being a “civilized” fann and this piece having Bedouin roots– accompanied only by a ‘ ? d and a kam?n and no percussions.

In 1929, while ‘Abd al-La??f al-Kuwayt? recorded with Odeon, another person from the Gulf, specifically from Bahrain, was also recording.

In 1929, the Baidaphon delegation represented by the Darsa sons arrived to Kuwait, then went one or two years later to Bahrain where they met with a number of mu ? rib including Mu?ammad F?ris who died in 1947 and Mu?ammad Zuwayyid who died in 1982. They asked about a third mu ? rib D??? Bin Wulayd, the nahh?m (singer employed on diving boats), but he was away on a diving trip and they only met with the other two.

They started by asking Mu?ammad F?ris to sing in order to assess if his performance was fit for recording, and it was marvellous of course. But he refused to record with them for numerous reasons: first, they said he would have to record in Berlin where Al-Qubbanj?, ?ab?ba Mas?ka, and Khumayyis Tern?n, among other Arab artists, had recorded the previous year. He replied: “I already feel cold in Bahrain. What will happen to me in the snow?” and refused. Other sources say he was afraid the microphone and recording would steal his soul. People in the UK had such apprehensions too. Some of the first mu ? rib were scared of recording, thinking the microphone would steal their soul... maybe because an artist had died right after recording… maybe they thought that records had to steal a soul in order to produce a voice. This belief was very strong. ?u?ayr? Ab? ‘Az?z had refused to record the first time for this same reason, saying: “I was afraid the mic would steal my soul”. The point is Mu?ammad F?ris refused… there are different versions to this story.

So Odeon ended up with only Mu?ammad Zuwayyid who was a beginner at the time, a good one though. Zuwayyid was influenced by the current singing style in Kuwait and had adopted the personality of his teacher Mu?ammad F?ris. He went to Baghdad were they made him leather clothes as he was supposed to go to Berlin, but then told him going there was not necessary anymore since the recording machine would reach Baghdad in a matter of one or two months. So Mu?ammad Zuwayyid and violinist Sa‘d Ab? Sayy?l waited for the recording machine in Baghdad, as well as for their turn since a number of other mu ? rib were there, waiting for their turn to record.

During this period, he played and listened to Iraqi music whose influence on him appeared at a later stage. Mu?ammad Zuwayyid recorded a collection of ?awt mostly, and his first record was of a ?awt ‘arab? “Sal?m y? z?n y? mayy?s y? a?war”. The following is a significant information: Zuwayyid’s ‘ ?d playing was stronger than his voice, so Odeon asked him to sing without the ‘ ?d that he would only play during the instrumental sections. They placed a person behind him to give him the ‘ ?d and to remove it throughout the performance, which was complicated. So they brought in D?w?d al-Kuwayt?, an expert in Gulf voices and melodies, to play the ‘ ?d and ??li? al-Kuwayt? to play the kam?n .

I had mentioned earlier that Sa‘d Ab? Sayy?l accompanied him on the violin... but when they heard master violinist ??li? al-Kuwayt?, they chose him. Sa‘d Ab? Sayy?l played the percussions in these recordings and also recorded a collection of ?awt including “Na‘?shu bi-dhikr?kum” and “Salakhat ‘ann? al-lay?l? min awd”. It is said that he also recorded “Y? ?amm?d m? shuft el-kha?ar” and a type called khit?m , i.e. the closure, a specific type of singing he recorded with the band that also accompanied him in the performance of a beautiful musical tawl?fa . The text was “Itsamma‘? y? ahl el-hawa m? aq?l”.

Can we listen to it?

Yes

Dear listeners, we have reached the end of today’s episode.

We will resume our discussion about the History of Recording in the Arabian Gulf in our future episode of “Min al-T ? r ?k h”.

“Min al-T ? r ? kh” was brought to you by Mustafa Said.