Music of Kuwait

Tabla player at the 8th International Music Festival in Kuwait

The traditional music of Kuwait were well-recorded until the Persian Gulf War, when Iraq invaded the country and destroyed the archive. Nevertheless, Kuwait has retained a vital music industry, both long before the war and after.^[1] Kuwaiti music reflects the diverse influences of many peoples on the culture of Kuwait, including East African and Indian music.

Kuwait is known as the center, along with Bahrain for sawt, a bluesy style of music made popular in the 1970s by Shadi al Khaleej (the Bird Song of the Gulf). Nabil Shaeil and Abdullah El Rowaished are the most popular modern sawt performers, who include influences from techno and Europop in their music; Kuwaiti sawt musicians are well-known across the Arab nations in the Persian Gulf region.^[1] Other popular groups include the long-running Al-Budoor Band.

Pop Music

Kuwait has a reputation for being the central musical influence of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries. Over the last decade of satellite TV stations, there has been a stream of Kuwaiti Pop Bands that have been successful in reaching other Arab countries with their unique style of pop. One Kuwaiti band known as Miami, has been so successful that it's influenced dozens of non Arab nationalities, among them Indian, Sri Lankan, Bengali, Filipinos and even Western nationalities such as British and American nationals.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Badley, Bill. "Sounds of the Arabian Peninsula". 2000. In Broughton, Simon and Ellingham, Mark with McConnachie, James and Duane, Orla (Ed.), World Music, Vol. 1: Africa, Europe and the Middle East, pp 351-354. Rough Guides Ltd, Penguin Books. ISBN 1-85828-636-0

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