Ever heard of Kuwaiti Pearl Diving Music?  When Ghazi Faisal Al-Mulaifi blend it with the Latin jazz of Arturo O’Farrill, something very special happens…

Release Date:  5^th January 2025

Label: Self Release

Formats: Digital

DIVING FOR PEARLS

Before the discovery of oil, the people of Kuwait made their living diving for pearls in the waters of the Persian Gulf and beyond. Musician, Ethnomusicologist and jazz guitarist Ghazi Faisal Al-Mulaifi’s grandfather was one of the last master pearl divers, before the practice was outlawed in 1955.

“When I was thirteen years old my father, the ambassador, was stationed in the Kuwaiti Embassy in Bonn, Germany,” Al-Mulaifi said. “The year of the Iraqi invasion, my grandfather came to stay with us. My father told me he was a ship master and pearl diver. I was overcome with excitement. The one time I asked him about his life at sea, he replied: ‘All the men died at sea.’ His mourning disposition instilled in me a tremendous curiosity about his life at sea, and our family’s place in Kuwaiti maritime history.”

For his senior project at NYU, Al-Mulaifi investigated the history of pearl diving and the music the divers created. “Since pearl diving ceased to be a viable livelihood in the 1950s, my aim was to preserve Kuwaiti pearl diving music and traditions. This music enveloped the lives of the divers. If they were not sleeping, eating, or praying, there was a music that was assigned to all tasks. It is a music born of trade.”

THE BIRTH OF BOOM.DIWAN

After being stationed at the NYU campus in Abu Dabi, Al-Mulaifi often visited Kuwait. He sought out singers and percussionists who grew up singing and playing pearl diving music. He began jamming with them, while exploring ways to bring this music to the world stage. In 2018, Bill Bragin, executive arts director of the Arts Center at NYUAD, invited Latin jazz pianist, composer, producer and the leader of the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra Arturo O’Farrill to spend three days in Kuwait, playing with Al-Mulaifi and the musicians that would become Boom.Diwan.

O’Farrill had been been investigating the links between Arab music and Afro-Cuban jazz and connected with Al-Mulaifi and his group. “We were called the Ghazi Al-Mulaifi Ensemble, but needed something shorter,” Ghazi said. “I told him, ‘The most important ship is a called a Boom. Arturo jumped on that. Then there’s a ‘diwan,’ the place in the home where you welcome guests and music is played. Arturo loved the rhythmic feel of Boom.Diwan and it became our name.”

GRAMMY NOMINATED

O’Farrill returned to Abu Dabi with his Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra in 2019 and played a concert featuring guests from the Arab musical world, including Boom.Diwan. They also played shows in New York City and Saudi Arabia. During the Covid lockdown, O’Farrill did a series of virtual shows. Several tracks from those shows, including a collaboration with Boom.Diwan, are on the Grammy nominated album Virtual Birdland.

That success led to conversations about continuing their collaboration. In December of 2022, O’Farrill, two members of his band, Al-Mulaifi and percussionists from Boom.Diwan and Abu Dhabi-based, South African drummer Claude Cozens got together to jam and see what happened. The result is Live at the Khalleji. Five tunes combine Latin jazz, traditional Kuwaiti sounds and world music.

“The word ‘Khaleej’ literally means Gulf,” Al-Mulaifi said. “We use it to refer to the Arabian Gulf, to emphasize the Gulf and its cosmopolitan history.  The arrangements used in the album were influenced by the Virtual Birdland concerts. Since we were not playing with the entire orchestra, we had a lot more freedom to stretch out. The greatest joy of this record was realizing that we were making a lot of this up as we went along. For some of the musicians this was fine, for others, it was a challenge to play out of the box and to create new arrangements of the rhythms.”

A POTENT BLEND OF STYLES

The blend of styles and cultures on Live at the Khaleej! is a potent one, brought vividly to life by a band of masterful musicians. Al-Mulafi on guitar and vocals, O’Farrill on piano, Jasper Shogo Dutz on horns, Liany Mateo on bass, the aforementioned Claude Cozens on drums and Hamad Ben Hussain, Hamad Saeed and Abdullah Al-Mutairi on percussion.

A MIX OF RHYTHMS

Opening track, Ana Mashoof is a determined statement of intent, if ever there was one.  An Al-Mulafi composition, it’s a tune set in the Haddadi mukhalef rhythm – the concept of one rhythm playing against another.  The piece opens with a passage of clear, bluesy guitar from Al-Mulafi. He’s joined by sparse, subtle, patters of percussion and the overall effect is delightfully lazy and dreamlike.  Al-Mulafi’s vocals are warm and welcoming and his guitar solo, underpinned by some tremendous bass from Liany, reminds me so much of Zappa’s Watermelon In Easter Hay.  Yes, it’s THAT good…

Al-Mulafi wrote Muneera for a film of the same name and, this time, he co-opted a rhythm that he describes as “Khaleej rhumba – it’s Congolese-based.”  It’s a tune that, maybe more than any other on the album, encapsulates that sought-after cultural blend.  The rhumba rhythm is all-pervasive; Al-Mulafi’s guitar lines evoke visions of the souks and alleyways of a Middle Eastern port town, Arturo’s piano is both bafflingly intense and cool as cucumber and, when Jasper chips in with his horns, the Arabian vista is complete.

Percussion dominates for Blue, another of Al-Mulafi’s tunes.  Liany builds a solid foundation with his basslines as Al-Mulafi’s guitar and Arturo’s piano interweave.  Arabian influences are, once again clearly detectable in the guitar and horn parts, whilst Arturo’s piano recalls the sultry barrooms of Havana.  These guys are masters of their craft, of that there’s no doubt.

A DISTINCTIVELY CUBAN SWING

Arturo wrote Company Doug for a friend of that name and he opens the piece with a sharp, haphazard, piano passage that morphs into a Latin rhythm as Liany adds his bass.  Liany takes centre-stage for a solo before the band – piano, guitar, horn, bass and percussion all settle into a jazzy groove with a distinctively Cuban swing.

Closing track Utviklingsaang (the title means “Development Song” in Norwegian) was composed by the late, great, Carla Bley – a mentor to Arturo – and this arrangement is a contemplative, melodic, tribute to a truly great musician.  Arturo’s mellow, warm piano is complemented by Jasper’s spacy, soothing, clarinet – and Al-Mulafi’s soaring guitar parts are glorious.

A fusion of cultures, a fusion of styles; tasteful jazz for discerning palates.  Live at the Khaleej! is an absolute triumph.

Watch this live-in-NYC performance by Ghazi & Boom.Diwan X Arturo O’Farrill of Muneera, a track from the album, here:

Ghazi & Boom.Diwan online: Official Website / Linktree / YouTube

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