Maho Sebiane
Anthropologist and Ethnomusicologist Researcher at the CRAL (EHESS-CNRS, France) and research collaborator at CREM-LESC (France) and CEFREPA (Koweit), Dr. Maho Sebiane is currently works on music, ritual practices and heritage-making in the Western Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf sub-region. After a PhD at the Université de Paris Nanterre specialized in Ethnomusicology (PhD in 2015), Maho Sebiane studied musical life and ritual possession in connection with the slavery legacy in rural areas of Eastern Arabia (Qatar, UAE and Oman). His research led him to study Heritages festivals and heritage-making in the Gulf since the emergence of the nation-states of the Gulf.
His current research aims to study the multiple processes involved in the reconfiguration of musical and ritual practices by crossing the different methodologies of ethnomusicology, anthropology, ethnolinguistics and history.
Address: Research Center for the Arts and Language : 96, bd Raspail - 75006 Paris
His current research aims to study the multiple processes involved in the reconfiguration of musical and ritual practices by crossing the different methodologies of ethnomusicology, anthropology, ethnolinguistics and history.
Address: Research Center for the Arts and Language : 96, bd Raspail - 75006 Paris
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This issue of Arabian Humanities proposes to offer a multidisciplinary overview of the Sultanate of Oman contemporary period by bringing together old and recent works. It will focus as much on its history as on the major social and cultural changes that have taken place in its society. The aim is to explore the different aspects that can be observed today and which contribute to a better understanding of this country over time.
For more information, please visit : https://journals.openedition.org/cy/5291
Peer reviewed articles
Or, aux yeux des Zunûj, il est essentiel que tous – humains et esprits – observent entre eux une attitude respectueuse et sans hostilité. Cela s’accorde avec le caractère festif recherché pour le bon déroulement du rite, d’autant que pour être considéré comme réussi, il doit s’achever dans la bonne entente et l’harmonie entre tous les participants humains et les esprits. Que se passe-t-il donc ? Qui sont les réels acteurs de ces comportements lorsqu’ils impliquent des entités immatérielles ? Et pourquoi manifester de l’agressivité lorsque la réalisation musicale du rite est idéale ?
Since the original publication of this article in 2011, much has changed in the Persian Gulf. During its writing (2010), the Arab Spring emerged in major cities of the Middle-East, opening the door to an unprecedented wave of new cultural expressions throughout the Arab World. Six years later (2016), the result is very uneven effects from one country to another. Regarding the Gulf region, we were able to observe the appearance of Heavy Metal and Rap musical groups composed of local musicians who were using a shape of expression that until then had been unknown; however, this was done without being able to anchor their musical expressions in local societies over time. This is a situation that probably finds an explanation in the singular dynamic of the regional cultural landscape, but also in relation to the political foundations of the local nation-states and the way in which they signify their local culture and history with regard to the Western World.
This article is the result of an investigation from before the Arab Spring and the final reconfiguration of the cultural policies of the States Member of the Gulf Cooperation Council.
The attempt is made to see the current situation of the patrimonial phenomenon in the United Arab Emirates and, more broadly, in the Persian Gulf region, and the consequences of such dynamics on the underlying forces of local musical. Today, we can only note that the process of institutionalization of the "traditional culture" is progressing towards completion. Note also that most of the cultural institutions mentioned in this article have mostly changed names or integrated into other entities. For example, the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH), the central actor of the phenomenon described in this article, was dissolved in 2012 into a new state institution: the Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority. This penultimate sequence officially establishes the new paradigm associating Economy and Culture following direction given by the Abu Dhabi Vision 2030 Master Plan drafted during the 2000s
However, the leiwah is known best as an entertaining dance and perceived by the young Arab urbanized generation as a secular and local tradition of Arabic inspiration. This situation is partly due to the fact that the presentation of this practice by the Gulf States cultural institutions minimize all its links to Africa and do not mention the history of the Zunûj slavery. What, then, does leiwah mean for those who practice it? What are the cultural influences on which it was established, as well as the specificities of this practice in Eastern Arabia, given that the old generation of the Zunûj considers the leiwah as an East African cultural expression and it is basically a rite of possession?
This article focuses on the study of the leiwah in a diachronic perspective. The purpose being, on one hand, to replace in a historical perspective some anthropological and musicological elements observed in synchrony, and on the other, to clarify its cultural influences that would contribute to a better understanding of how and from what this practice was elaborated in Eastern Arabia.
between the leiwah in Arabia and these two east African cults. First of all, it distinguishes in what ways the leiwah is associated with the African slave trade in Eastern Arabia, that it presents differences with the zar cult, previously known in Arabia, and that its pantheon of sawahili spirits returns to Swahili spirits in East Africa. Then, through the exposure and the comparison of the pantheons of spirits and the ceremonial components identified in the leiwah, bara and kipemba ceremonies, it is indicated in what ways the relationship between these possession cults can be considered as relevant, in so far as the common features overlap significantly. These elements allow, finally, to consider as plausible the hypothesis of a transmission – maybe fragmentary today – of a Swahili culture in Eastern Arabia.
Keywords : History, slavery, East Africa, Eastern Arabia, possession cults, spirits pantheon, comparative organology, cultural contact.
Depuis 1971 – date de la création de la fédération des émirats Arabe Unis –, les traditions musicales connaissent à des degrés divers des transformations dans leur cadre de performance comme dans leur modalité d’exécution. Un phénomène qui résulte en partie d’un mécanisme de patrimonialisation visant à promouvoir une unité culturelle nationale,
Aujourd’hui, suite à la ratification de la convention de l’UNESCO pour les PCI par les EAU et à l’émergence d’un marché culturel local aux spécificités urbaines, le secteur entrepreneurial capte et transforme à son tour ces musiques patrimonialisées au moyen de processus de production et de diffusion inhérents à la sphère économique.
Book Reviews
Call for Papers
Coordinators: Maho Sebiane (EHESS-CEFAS), Sterenn Le Maguer-Gillon (CEFAS) and Marion Breteau (CEFAS).
This issue of Arabian Humanities proposes to offer a multidisciplinary overview of the Sultanate of Oman contemporary period by bringing together old and recent works.
It will focus as much on its history as on the major social and cultural changes that have taken place in its society.
The aim is to explore the different aspects that can be observed today and which contribute to a better understanding of this country over time.
For more information, please visit :
https://journals.openedition.org/cy/5291
Symposium
Cette journée d’étude pluridisciplinaire vise à développer la réflexion sur cette notion dans une perspective centrée sur les expressions et les pratiques musicales et dansées dans le cadre des enjeux patrimoniaux entre entités culturelles différenciées (États-nations, groupes linguistiques, culturels ou religieux). Il s`agit notamment d’explorer ses implications sur les pratiques d’emprunt, d’adaptation et d’hybridation à l’aune des études sur le « transfert culturel ». Elle se propose ainsi d’offrir un éclairage différent et actualisé de ces notions placées au cœur de la création et de la circulation des expressions culturelles dans et entre nos sociétés contemporaines.
Workshops
En effet, du Moyen-Orient à l’océan Indien occidental, l’association entre l’action musicale et la structuration induite par l’organisation des rites produit des effets visibles et spectaculaires tant parmi les rites religieux monothéistes orientaux comme des rites de possession africains. L’objectif de cet atelier est d’engager un dialogue autour de la musique et des différentes pratiques rituelles dans la diversité des mondes musulmans du Moyen-Orient à l’océan Indien occidental et à différentes périodes. Pour ce faire, les interventions interrogeront la musicologie, la linguistique, l’histoire, les transferts culturels et l’efficacité rituelle identifiables sous toutes ses formes d’expression.
Dissertation
Books
Publications
Papers
This issue of Arabian Humanities proposes to offer a multidisciplinary overview of the Sultanate of Oman contemporary period by bringing together old and recent works. It will focus as much on its history as on the major social and cultural changes that have taken place in its society. The aim is to explore the different aspects that can be observed today and which contribute to a better understanding of this country over time.
For more information, please visit : https://journals.openedition.org/cy/5291
Or, aux yeux des Zunûj, il est essentiel que tous – humains et esprits – observent entre eux une attitude respectueuse et sans hostilité. Cela s’accorde avec le caractère festif recherché pour le bon déroulement du rite, d’autant que pour être considéré comme réussi, il doit s’achever dans la bonne entente et l’harmonie entre tous les participants humains et les esprits. Que se passe-t-il donc ? Qui sont les réels acteurs de ces comportements lorsqu’ils impliquent des entités immatérielles ? Et pourquoi manifester de l’agressivité lorsque la réalisation musicale du rite est idéale ?
Since the original publication of this article in 2011, much has changed in the Persian Gulf. During its writing (2010), the Arab Spring emerged in major cities of the Middle-East, opening the door to an unprecedented wave of new cultural expressions throughout the Arab World. Six years later (2016), the result is very uneven effects from one country to another. Regarding the Gulf region, we were able to observe the appearance of Heavy Metal and Rap musical groups composed of local musicians who were using a shape of expression that until then had been unknown; however, this was done without being able to anchor their musical expressions in local societies over time. This is a situation that probably finds an explanation in the singular dynamic of the regional cultural landscape, but also in relation to the political foundations of the local nation-states and the way in which they signify their local culture and history with regard to the Western World.
This article is the result of an investigation from before the Arab Spring and the final reconfiguration of the cultural policies of the States Member of the Gulf Cooperation Council.
The attempt is made to see the current situation of the patrimonial phenomenon in the United Arab Emirates and, more broadly, in the Persian Gulf region, and the consequences of such dynamics on the underlying forces of local musical. Today, we can only note that the process of institutionalization of the "traditional culture" is progressing towards completion. Note also that most of the cultural institutions mentioned in this article have mostly changed names or integrated into other entities. For example, the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH), the central actor of the phenomenon described in this article, was dissolved in 2012 into a new state institution: the Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority. This penultimate sequence officially establishes the new paradigm associating Economy and Culture following direction given by the Abu Dhabi Vision 2030 Master Plan drafted during the 2000s
However, the leiwah is known best as an entertaining dance and perceived by the young Arab urbanized generation as a secular and local tradition of Arabic inspiration. This situation is partly due to the fact that the presentation of this practice by the Gulf States cultural institutions minimize all its links to Africa and do not mention the history of the Zunûj slavery. What, then, does leiwah mean for those who practice it? What are the cultural influences on which it was established, as well as the specificities of this practice in Eastern Arabia, given that the old generation of the Zunûj considers the leiwah as an East African cultural expression and it is basically a rite of possession?
This article focuses on the study of the leiwah in a diachronic perspective. The purpose being, on one hand, to replace in a historical perspective some anthropological and musicological elements observed in synchrony, and on the other, to clarify its cultural influences that would contribute to a better understanding of how and from what this practice was elaborated in Eastern Arabia.
between the leiwah in Arabia and these two east African cults. First of all, it distinguishes in what ways the leiwah is associated with the African slave trade in Eastern Arabia, that it presents differences with the zar cult, previously known in Arabia, and that its pantheon of sawahili spirits returns to Swahili spirits in East Africa. Then, through the exposure and the comparison of the pantheons of spirits and the ceremonial components identified in the leiwah, bara and kipemba ceremonies, it is indicated in what ways the relationship between these possession cults can be considered as relevant, in so far as the common features overlap significantly. These elements allow, finally, to consider as plausible the hypothesis of a transmission – maybe fragmentary today – of a Swahili culture in Eastern Arabia.
Keywords : History, slavery, East Africa, Eastern Arabia, possession cults, spirits pantheon, comparative organology, cultural contact.
Depuis 1971 – date de la création de la fédération des émirats Arabe Unis –, les traditions musicales connaissent à des degrés divers des transformations dans leur cadre de performance comme dans leur modalité d’exécution. Un phénomène qui résulte en partie d’un mécanisme de patrimonialisation visant à promouvoir une unité culturelle nationale,
Aujourd’hui, suite à la ratification de la convention de l’UNESCO pour les PCI par les EAU et à l’émergence d’un marché culturel local aux spécificités urbaines, le secteur entrepreneurial capte et transforme à son tour ces musiques patrimonialisées au moyen de processus de production et de diffusion inhérents à la sphère économique.
Coordinators: Maho Sebiane (EHESS-CEFAS), Sterenn Le Maguer-Gillon (CEFAS) and Marion Breteau (CEFAS).
This issue of Arabian Humanities proposes to offer a multidisciplinary overview of the Sultanate of Oman contemporary period by bringing together old and recent works.
It will focus as much on its history as on the major social and cultural changes that have taken place in its society.
The aim is to explore the different aspects that can be observed today and which contribute to a better understanding of this country over time.
For more information, please visit :
https://journals.openedition.org/cy/5291
Cette journée d’étude pluridisciplinaire vise à développer la réflexion sur cette notion dans une perspective centrée sur les expressions et les pratiques musicales et dansées dans le cadre des enjeux patrimoniaux entre entités culturelles différenciées (États-nations, groupes linguistiques, culturels ou religieux). Il s`agit notamment d’explorer ses implications sur les pratiques d’emprunt, d’adaptation et d’hybridation à l’aune des études sur le « transfert culturel ». Elle se propose ainsi d’offrir un éclairage différent et actualisé de ces notions placées au cœur de la création et de la circulation des expressions culturelles dans et entre nos sociétés contemporaines.
En effet, du Moyen-Orient à l’océan Indien occidental, l’association entre l’action musicale et la structuration induite par l’organisation des rites produit des effets visibles et spectaculaires tant parmi les rites religieux monothéistes orientaux comme des rites de possession africains. L’objectif de cet atelier est d’engager un dialogue autour de la musique et des différentes pratiques rituelles dans la diversité des mondes musulmans du Moyen-Orient à l’océan Indien occidental et à différentes périodes. Pour ce faire, les interventions interrogeront la musicologie, la linguistique, l’histoire, les transferts culturels et l’efficacité rituelle identifiables sous toutes ses formes d’expression.