Tag Archives: durrat

Nov30

An old poem revisited

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As often happens these days I was searching for another poem when I came upon this one. I thought I’d give it a visual interpretation. I hope it works.

Let me know what you think…

In Bahrain and other parts of the Arabian Gulf, the Pearl divers went out to sea to look for pearls in, what were at the time exceedingly the rich oyster beds located in and around the gulf. It was a hard life and dangerous and much lore surrounded the profession and the songs. This traditional music, known as fidjeri, is an age-old repertory of vocal music sung by the pearl divers of Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar. The Nahhaam, or pearl diver singers, were backed by a chorus of singers and clappers accompanied by the Mirwas – a small double-sided drum – and the jahlah – a clay pot. 

In 1972, a film by Kuwaiti Khalid Al Siddiq, titled The Cruel Sea – better known by its Arabic title Bas Ya Bahr – related an artistic representation of the pre-oil life of the pearl divers. It proved to be a masterpiece and tells the story of a crippled old pearl diver who tries to prevent his son from taking up the trade because it is so fraught with danger, but the son is in love with a girl from a wealthy family and needs to make money to marry her.  This poem hints at the story and the theme of the film, the sea: treacherous, unmovable, unchanged, eternal and ultimately cruel.

Feb27

In a Bay off old Muharraq

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This poem was submitted to Lucid Rhythms – an online magazine – and when he accepted it, that was the first time I began to hope that there were still venues that would accept ‘rhyming’ and metric poems.

I don’t know the journey that the genre has taken ever since I last studied it, but in my humble – and not so elevated opinion – any art that needs excessive analysing and interpreting and that can’t or doesn’t connect with people is somewhere missing the point.

In a bay off old Muharraq

Lies an ancient wooden Sambuk

That still goes out on moonless nights

Searching for th’ eternal light

And the master of the Sambuk

Who’s the master of that Sambuk?

A ghost, a wraith, a memory

Singing songs like Fidjeri.

 

And who is it that sits beside him?

Playing on the double hand drum?

Drumming on the mirwas lightly

While the Sambuk skips so spritely

Across the waves out to the sea

Recalling ancient memory?

Why he too is a distant past

That’s lost forever, lost alas!

 

And what is it they hope to find

Tossed along by wind and mind?

Why it’s the lulu treasured pearl

‘Durrat’ more prized than any girl.

And so the divers scythe the waves

Seeking what we all so crave

To bury hatred, soothe the pain

So we can all be one again.

 

And all who live upon this isle

Wherever he or she may come from

Join together, hug and smile

And truly say, “Salaam alaikum.”

 

Note: Fidjeri is an old Arabian Gulf/ Khaleeji pearl divers’ song, mirwas is the double handed drum that pearl divers used on their dhows (like the Sambuk) the lulu is the word for pearl in Arabic and Durrat is a particularly highly prized pearl. Muharraq is the second major island of the archipelago that constitutes the Kingdom of Bahrain. The poem is not political but expresses the desire to recreate a more friendly unified time in Bahrain. Salaam alaikum means ‘peace be upon you’.