Oman Bagpipe Singers: Songs of returning and leaving

 

On Oman’s southeastern coast, a remarkable musical tradition keeps history alive. In the Ash-Sharqiyah region, descendants of East Africans brought via the Indian Ocean slave trade preserve their heritage through Al-Mudema—sailor songs sung in Swahili and Arabic and accompanied by Omani bagpipes, sea conch shells, and percussion.

Blending African and Arabian influences, these multigenerational musicians sustain a living cultural legacy shaped by centuries of maritime connection and resilience. The album was recorded in situ by Grammy Award winning producer Ian Breenan (Tinariwen, Ustad Saami, The Good Ones).

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In Oman, descendants of the “other” African slave trade continue to live in the Ash-Sharqiyah region that hosted the main port.

Centuries on, Al-Mudema (“sailor songs”) musicians continue to sing mostly in Swahili and feature music mixing African rhythms and bagpipes. These descendants are referred to as the Zanzabari (or sometimes locally as Khal people). And they sing the songs of those who were brought forcibly by ship centuries before.

Rather than bagpipes (qurbah) being appropriated from Scotland or introduced by the British colonizers as is commonly claimed, archaeological records demonstrate that a kindred instrument was first found in the Arabian Peninsula region more than two thousand years prior to its appearance in the British Isles, predating Jesus Christ by a millennium. The other defining instrumental feature of Al-Mudema music is the blown sea conch shell, an indicator of the music’s ties to the sea.

We headed south along the coast from the capital, crossing the Tropic of Cancer along the way. High desert mountains plunged into the sea and asymmetrical rock islands rose like sphinx laid sideways.

Two different groups— Al Ajial (“Generations”) and Al Khair (“Imported Goods”)— gathered beachside for the recording. Both featured eight core members, all of whom other than the bagpipe and seashell conch (jem) player contributed percussion of some sort, including the majur (a belt that is worn around the waist and made of goat hooves). Fishing boats raced past behind them as they played.

The qurbah (“bagpipes”) in Oman are sometimes referred to simply as “music pipes,” but both groups proudly proclaimed that they are “bagpipe singers.”

Most of the musicians could trace their ancestry in Oman back over a hundred years before losing the thread. They were multi-generational groups incorporating family members.

Zanzibar was united with Oman to create the Omani Empire from 1696–1856. The history of its slave trade is a significant aspect of Oman’s history. Slaves from the Swahili coast were transported via Zanzibar to Oman, and then onwards from Oman to Persia and throughout the Middle East.

Oman played a vital role in the trade and hosts arguably the oldest port in the world. For certain, it provided the largest slave trading location in the Arabian Sea. Oman didn’t outlaw slavery officially until 1970. Today, it is against the law to refer to someone as a slave, a prohibition which is taken quite seriously and reportedly enforced. That hardly stops the upper-class, though, from barking with derision and entitlement towards laborers and those of a lower-station.

In the universal minimization and denial of oppressors, many locals claim that their brand of enslavement was “different” and “not as bad.”

The region persists in being dubbed the Middle East, but really it is central. The world’s crossroads— where Africa, Europe, and Asia converge.

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01. Bring the Food & Water, the Voyagers Have Returned*
02. Please God, Help Us Lift This Sail +
03. You Move Like the Leaves, Tilting Like a Tree in the Wind +
04. The Ship from Zanzibar Has Crashed & There Are No Goods for the People*
05. The Boy Has Just Arrived from East Africa & Doesn’t Know How to Speak Arabic*
06. I Hear a Noise on the Thatch Roof & It Reminds Me How Much I Miss Home +
*Swahili
+Arabic

AL AJIAL group (“Generations”) – tracks 1, 5, and 6:

NABHAN Al Alawi, 50, jem (seashell conch), vocals
MUBARAK Al Hashmi, 43, kaser (small hand drum)
ABDULMAHDI Al Ghaylani, 47, tasa (treble hand-drum)
OSAMA Al Alawi, 30, rahmani (tall hand drum), backing vocalist
AHMED Al Alawi, 48, rahmani (tall hand drum)
MUSHAL Al Alawi, 48, main singer, rahmani (tall hand drum)
SAMI Al Mukhaini, 33, rahmani (tall hand drum), vocalist
MABRUK Al Alawi, 44, qurbah (bagpipes)
Special guest: ALKHLIL Al Alawi, 12, shaal (“finger cymbals”)

AL KHAIR group (“Imported Goods”) – tracks 2, 3, and 5:

SBAIT Shaeer, 40, vocals
YUSUF Oaeed, 40, rahmani (tall hand drum)
SADIQ, Tabbaal 36, kaser (small hand drum)
SALAH Shaeer, 37, vocals
SAID Tabbaal, 41, tasa (treble hand-drum)
YUSUF Oaeed, 49, qurbah (bagpipes)
SUBAT Munshid, 36, vocals
JUMAH Airadeedah, 28, jem (seashell conch)