Vibrant reciprocity exists between the musical expressions of Kerala’s Mappila culture and those of the Arabian Peninsula but such give-and-take remains largely under-appreciated, according to ethnomusicologist Rolf Killius.
The Mappila culture of the peninsular state had left its imprints on the art and music of the Persian Gulf region, yet much of it remained unnoticed in sociocultural and academic circuits, the London-based scholar said at a recent talk at the Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Kalady, under the aegis of Sahapedia, an open online multimedia knowledge resource on cultures.
The maritime trade and associated cultural exchanges between regions merit further study in order to unearth the influence of African as well as Indian music on the traditional performances and music of Gulf countries such Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Iraq and the UAE, he said.
In the talk, titled ‘Where the sea kisses the desert’, the German-born Mr. Killius pointed out that the design of musical instruments and the rhythmic patterns of the choral music exhibited the cross-cultural connections that the east coast of Africa and west coast of India had with the Gulf region.
