As part of the series of seminars and workshops titled “Al-Sulaiti Music Salon,” the Music Affairs Center of the Ministry of Culture is organizing a seminar on “Al-Nahma [sea shanty] and Al-Naham [shanty singer]: Eternal Reverberations and Melodies,” in which composer and researcher of musical heritage, Faisal Al-Tamimi, will give a talk, and in which the shanty singer Ali Al-Haddad will be making a performance. The seminar will be moderated by the poet Abdul Hamid Al-Yousef, Deputy Director of the Music Affairs Center, and the venue is the Center’s headquarters at Al-Sulaiti House.
Mr. Al-Yousef said: “Sea shanties represent the voice of tradition, originality and heritage, and they are the expressive vocal articulation of the sufferings of ancestors during a given period of time. This serves as a reminder for future generations about the sufferings of people on the land in order to preserve it and defend it over the centuries, as well as preserving themselves as its inhabitants.
Mr. Al-Yousef indicated that the shanty singer is the ship’s master at sea, and he is the voice that accompanies the ship to its anchorage, pointing out that composer and researcher Al-Tamimi embodies several aspects of glory. A product of this generous land, he is a composer and historian who has been interested in folk art for a long time, and he is a reference in the study and knowledge of heritage.
Deputy Director of the Music Affairs Center stressed that the seminars held by the Center constitute a promising sophisticated movement reflective of the role of music as heritage and musical scales (maqāmāt). He pointed out that music is rooted in our memory; besides, it is an inspiring national and military anthem for sacrifice and defense of homelands. He explained that the seminars held by the Center are distinguished by diversity that encompasses heritage, modernity and originality.
It is worth mentioning that the seminars are held on Wednesdays every week, in which a group of artists, musicians, researchers and specialists in this field give lectures, and the seminars cast a positive shadow on the musical scene in all its diversity, with a view to supplementing the arena with speakers at a high level of discussion and dialogue.