Maritime Art: Singing in the Shade of Sails launched at DIBF

A new book by Zahra al Sayed documents an important phase in the history of pearl diving.The book, Maritime Art – Singing in the Shade of Sails, was published by the Gulf Publishing and Printing Company and was launched at the Rosa Publishing House stand at the Doha International Book Fair (DIBF).It comprises three chapters.The first and second chapters serve as an introduction to delving into the depths of melody, lyrics, and poetry.The third chapter sheds light on the art of *bahri (maritime), from which the popular arts of singing, melodies, and music have branched out."My dream was not to publish just for the sake of publishing, but rather the dream was for the first publication to be a reference, a method, and a benefit for our time and for the time to come,” said al-Sayed."Many researchers have written and documented in this field, but their number remains fewer than those who wrote in the novel, poetry, story, and other literary fields,” she said. "We need to preserve what our predecessors left us, whether those who dived into the depths of the seas or those who collected and documented that stage.”"It is not an ordinary stage of life, but rather a history rooted in the Qatari and Gulf environment, a stage from which our customs, traditions, rituals, joys, and sorrows were formed,” al-Sayed added."A stage from which our culture, thought, and all of our lives sprang,” she continued. "We owe the sea our stories, proverbs, songs, popular games, and even our names. Everything here has sea features ... and from everything springs the fragrance of the sea, the culture of the sea, and the heritage of the sea."