Category Archives: Field Work

MaSC team participates in Ambisonic Recording at ‘Ramadaniyyat: The Boom Diwaniya’

March 15, 2024Field Work, NewsSafeya Alblooshi

We’re thrilled to announce that our MaSC team was involved in the ambisonic recording of “Ramadaniyyat: The Boom Diwaniya,” in partnership with the NYUAD Music Program. This event connected Arabian Gulf and Swahili Coastal communities through a celebration of their shared musical traditions.

Held as a musical salon, “The Boom Diwaniya” featured performances by traditional groups such as The Hamad Bin Hussein Ensemble and The Mayouf Mejally Ensemble, alongside guest artists like violinist Layth Sidiq and multi-instrumentalist Mbarak Ali Haji. The evening was a vibrant homage to the cultural heritage of the Western Indian Ocean, highlighting the traditional sea arts and the Kuwaiti diwaniya.

Congratulations to everyone involved in this unique and culturally rich recording experience!

MaSC at the 3rd edition of the Maritime Heritage Festival

March 4, 2024Events, Field Work, NewsSafeya Alblooshi

MaSC continues to collaborate as partners with the Department of Culture and Tourism (DCT) for the third edition of the Abu Dhabi Maritime Heritage Festival. In this year’s edition, MaSC have recorded new repertoire including the Tohoraeb (kind of Nahma), and bahri songs, as well an in-depth interview with Mustafa Al Fardan, a pearl trader and the 6th generation of pearl traders in his family.

MaSC at the 2nd edition of the Maritime Heritage Festival

February 28, 2023Field Work, News, UncategorizedSafeya Alblooshi

MaSC continues to collaborate as partners with the Department of Culture and Tourism (DCT) for the second edition of the Abu Dhabi Maritime Heritage Festival. Last week the core team recorded traditional performing arts from the UAE’s maritime culture such as the Lewah, the Lewah performance, and the Ahalla performance.

Music of Crafts recording at the Qasr Al Hosn

December 1, 2022Field Work, News, UncategorizedSafeya Alblooshi

The MaSC team spent two days recording sounds of traditional crafts which include the Sadu, Talli, and Khoos weaving at the House of Artisans in Qasr Al Hosn, along with student volunteers Maitha Alriyami and Diana Donatella. The recordings will later be featured in an auditory installation experience at the Qasr Al Hosn next year.

Preparing the recording session at Qasr Al Hosn

Further recording at the Shihuh Cultural and Heritage Society in RAK

October 24, 2022Field Work, NewsSafeya Alblooshi

Members of the MaSC team joined by collaborator and cinematographer Waleed Al Madani along with visiting scholar and filmmaker Amna Alnowais were in Ras Al Khaimah doing further recordings of the musical traditions of the Shihuh tribe as part of the project “Exploring the Musical Traditions of the Shihuh” (PI Carlos Guedes).

Recording the nadbah — Performance of the nadbah

Filming the Ruwah performer — Filming a ruwah performer

Performance of the razeef — Recording the razeef

MaSC at the Maritime Heritage Festival

March 20, 2022Field Work, Newscag204@nyu.edu

MaSC started a partnership with the Department of Culture and Tourism (DCT) at the first Abu Dhabi Maritime Heritage Festival (MHF) that took place at Abu Dhabi’s Corniche between March 18 and 27. This partnership entails supporting the DCT in recording and recovering the traditional songs from the maritime traditions of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. In the festival, members from the research team (Safeya Alblooshi, Juan Sierra, Carlos Guedes) and cinematographer Waleed Al Madani recorded performances of the Nahma and Ahalla as well as interviews with musicians and organizers.

Group of musicians getting ready to perform the Nahma

Exploring the musical traditions of the Shihuh

January 17, 2022Field Work, NewsShihuh, Traditional music, UAEcag204@nyu.edu

Members of the MaSC team (Safeya Alblooshi, Maryam AlShehhi, Carlos Guedes) together with filmmaker Amna Alnowais cinematographer Waleed Al Madani were in Ras Al Khaimah doing field work with members of the Shihuh Tribe on January 15 and 16. This work consisted in recording the Shihuh traditional styles such as the nadbah, the razeef al Shihuh, and the rawah, as well as traditional work songs and lullabies sang by women. This is part of project “Exploring the Musical Traditions of the Shihuh” (PI Carlos Guedes) partially funded by a faculty research grant from the Sheikh Saud Bin Saqr Al Qasimi Foundation for Policy Research (35,000 AED) and will focus essentially on doing field recordings of the music of the Shihuh. The recordings took place at the Shihuh Cultural and Heritage Society, and at the Lehmoudi house in Ras Al Khaimah.

It is expected that this data collection will subsequently be used by the MaSC research team for the computational analysis of the music, and to perform similarity comparisons to other regional styles. The project has three interrelated components: (1) the audiovisual recording and focus group interviews about the music styles to be recorded; (2) a short ethnographic video documentary; and (3) the publication of a scholarly paper in a relevant peer-reviewed journal reporting the entire project and its results.