BEYOND THE LEIWAH OF EASTERN ARABIA STRUCTURE OF A POSSESSION RITE IN THE LONGUE DURÉE Maho Sebiane National Museum of Natural History (MNHN), Paris and Research Center for Ethnomusicology (CREM), National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), Nanterre, Paris m sebiane!gmail com Abstract "long the shores of the Persian #ulf and es$ecially in Eastern "rabia, the leiwah is a $ossession rite in%ol%ing music and dance &t is $racticed by descendants of East "frican sla%es named the Zunûj 'hey consider it as nati%e from the S(ahili coast (Bilâd as-sawâhil) &ndeed, their $resence in this region dates from the late nineteenth century as a result of the &ndian )cean Sla%e trade Ho(e%er, the leiwah is *no(n best as an entertaining dance and $ercei%ed by the young "rab urbani+ed generation as a secular and local tradition of "rabic ins$iration. 'his situation is $artly due to the fact that the $resentation of this $ractice by the #ulf States cultural institutions minimi+e all its links to "frica and do not mention the history of the Zunûj sla%ery ,hat, then, does leiwah mean for those (ho $ractice it- ,hat are the cultural influences on (hich it (as established, as (ell as the s$ecificities of this $ractice in Eastern "rabia, gi%en that the old generation of the Zunûj considers the leiwah as an East "frican cultural e.$ression and it is basically a rite of $ossession? 'his article focuses on the study of the leiwah in a diachronic $ers$ecti%e 'he $ur$ose being, on one hand, to re$lace in a historical $ers$ecti%e some anthro$ological and musicological elements obser%ed in synchrony, and on the other, to clarify its cultural influences that (ould contribute to a better understanding of ho( and from (hat this $ractice (as elaborated in Eastern "rabia Keywords/ Eastern "rabia, East "frica, $ossession ritual, 0unú2, lei(ah Dance Maho Sabiane, 4eyond the lei(ah of Eastern "rabia Structure of a $ossession rite in the longue 13 dur5e, Música em Contexto, 4ras6lia N7 8 (9:8;)/ 8<=>? Resumo "o longo das margens do #olfo Persa e es$ecialmente no leste da "r@bia, o leiwah 5 um rito de $ossessAo en%ol%endo m1sica e dança C $raticado $or descendentes de escra%os da Dfrica Oriental chamados Zunûj Consideram=na como nati%a da costa da Swahili (Bilâd as-sawâhil) De fato, sua $resença nesta regiAo data do final do s5culo E&E como resultado do com5rcio de escra%os do Oceano Fndico No entanto, o leiwah 5 mais conhecido como uma dança de entretenimento e $ercebida $ela jo%em geraBAo @rabe urbani+ada como uma tradiBAo secular e local, de ins$iraBAo @rabe Esta situaBAo de%e=se em $arte ao fato de Gue a a$resentaBAo desta $r@tica $elas instituiBHes culturais dos Estados do #olfo minimi+aram todos os seus laBos com a Dfrica e não mencionam a histIria da escra%idAo Zunúj EntAo, o Gue significa leiwah $ara aGueles Gue a $raticam- Quais sAo as influências culturais nas Guais foi estabelecida, bem como as es$ecificidades desta $r@tica no leste da "r@bia, dado Gue a %elha geraBAo do Zunûj considera o leiwah como uma e.$ressAo cultural da Dfrica Oriental e 5 basicamente um rito de $osse- Este artigo foca o estudo do leiwah numa $ers$ecti%a diacrKnica ) objeti%o 5, $or um lado, substituir numa $ers$ecti%a histIrica alguns elementos antro$olIgicos e musicolIgicos obser%ados em sincronia e, $or outro, esclarecer suas influências culturais Gue contribuiriam $ara uma melhor com$reensAo de como e a $artir do Gue esta $r@tica foi elaborada na "r@bia Oriental Pa a!ras"c#a!e/ "r@bia Oriental, Dfrica Oriental, Ritual de $ossessAo, 0unú2, dança lei(ah. I$troductio$ 'he first academic publication about the leiwah in Eastern "rabia dates from 8LM;8 'he author, Poul Ro%sing-Olsen, describes 8 Eastern Arabia is the most easterly +one of the Arabian Peninsula and in the South of the Persian #ulf region &t includes Nnited "rab Emirates and Sultanate of )man nation=states 'he entertainment $ractice of leiwah named Oleiwah danceP (raqsat- al-leiwah) is *no(n on the (hole coast of the Persian #ulf from southern &raG to 4aluchistan including Hadramut in Qemen Re%ista do Programa de PIs=#raduaBAo em M1sica da Nni%ersidade de 4ras6lia "no EI, %olume 8 (outubro de 9:8;) Maho Sabiane, 4eyond the lei(ah of Eastern "rabia Structure of a $ossession rite in the longue dur5e, Música em Contexto, 4ras6lia N7 8 (9:8;)/ 8<=>? 14 this music and dance practice in the Nnited "rabs Emirates and 4ahrain as an "frican dance performed by the local blac* sla%e descent population R named the Zunûj – In connection (ith the spirit possession belief9 "ccording to his obser%ations, the leiwah is apparently an entertainment dance, but sometimes it becomes a possession rite (Ro%sing-Olsen 8LM;, <8S 9::9, 89L) 'he %arious (orks about this practice from the "rab states of the Persian #ulf subseGuently published bet(een the mid=se%enties and nineties, ha%e tried to determine its pro%enance Targely, they all agree that this dance has foreign OoriginsP from the "rabian Peninsula 'he Oleiwah danceP (as Gualified as an "frican UimmigrantU practice (wâfida in "rabic) 'his dance is presented as festi%e (ithout links to possession and it (as disseminated in the Persian #ulf through the Omani merchants after their return from East "frica 4ut from these %arious (orks, it is diVcult to determine if this dance has "frican or Omani pro%enance as the information presented about this practice do not o%erla$, as (e can see from Qayed (nd), 3u(Wb (8LX9), Stone (8LX?), "l=Yhan (8LXL, 8LLM), Sha(Gi Z Christensen (8LL>) and Handal (8LL?) for e.ample< 'oday, follo(ing the $atrimonial $rocess in the "rab #ulf nation=states, this dance seems dissociated from all that relates it to "frica and their national cultural institutions came to consider it as UnationalU (Sebiane 9:88S 9:8?b) In fact, the actual citi+ens of "frican descent in the #ulf States R Including the Zunûj R are mostly the descendants of ensla%ed "fricans brought from East "frica bet(een the 8;th and 8Lth century 'he sla%e status of their ancestors is not 9 See also Hassan (8LX:) for the area of 4asra in &raG 'he term Zunûj is a denomination in classical Arabic since the Middle "ges to designate the entire blac* $opulation nati%e from East Africa See for references/ Southagte (8LX>) &n the Persian #ulf, the Zunûj is an "frican sla%e descent grou$, Sebiane (9:88S 9:8?aS 9:8?b) < & focus in this introduction to consider these (or*s in their historical and cultural conte.t of $roduction 'heir res$ecti%e scientific contributions allo( us today to Guery the ob2ect of study in a di[erent pers$ecti%e Re%ista do Programa de PIs=#raduaBAo em M1sica da Nni%ersidade de 4ras6lia "no EI, %olume 8 (outubro de 9:8;) Maho Sabiane, 4eyond the lei(ah of Eastern "rabia Structure of a $ossession rite in the longue 15 dur5e, Música em Contexto, 4ras6lia N7 8 (9:8;)/ 8<=>? represented in the local nations\ historiography, and references to their "frican ancestry and sla%ery are absent from the cultural and social space 'his situation participated to make in%isible this population and the singularity of their culture Ne%ertheless, their music and dances are e.hibited in festi%als and national commemorations, completely deconte.tuali+ed from their initial signification (ibid!) In the Nnited "rabs Emirates for e.ample, it is percei%ed by the young urbani+ed generation as a secular tradition and e%en as an "rabic cultural e.pression> 'he situation is e%en more unclear than the Zunûj musicians are e.ceptionally cautious and discreet to describe, outside their cultural grou$, if the leiwah is an entertainment dance or a possession rite or both? ,hat, then, does leiwah mean for those (ho practice it- ,hat are the cultural influences on (hich it (as established, as (ell as the specificities of this practice in Eastern "rabia, gi%en that the old generation of the Zunûj of the rural areas in the Sultanate of Oman considers the leiwah as an East "frican cultural e.pression and it is basically a rite of possession- 'his Guestioning arising from my $re%ious research (or* in the Persian #ulf to understand the issues of this practice both in its ethnomusicological, anthropological and historical perspecti%e ]or this last point, it follo(s the (or* of Ed(ard " "lpers (9:::), a historian of sla%ery in East "frica, (ho considered the music, songs, dances, medicine healers, language and fol*lore of the 4lac* "frican > "ccording to #odelier (9:8:, 8:M), the (ord UcultureU means Uall re$resentations and $rinci$les (hich consciously organi+e the %arious areas of social life, and the %alues attached to these ways of acting and thin*ingP 'his conce$t falls within "the ideational only truly e.ists (hen the ideational elements = $rinci$les, re$resentations, (hich are %alues= u$ the associated s$ecifically (ith social $ractices and material to (hich they gi%e meaningP (ibid ) ]or an over%ie( of notions of "culture" and "cultural identityU that ^o( from it, but also the theoretical as$ects since 'ylor (8X;8), see Galaty and Lea%itt (8LL8, 1L:=8LM) ? &n fact, (hen Zunûj (ritual ade$ts and musicians) define di[erential relations of their leiwah $ractice, they are also engaged in the definition of a di[erential relation at the articulation bet(een (hat is reali+ed inside and outside their cultural grou$ See Sebiane (9:8?a) Re%ista do Programa de PIs=#raduaBAo em M1sica da Nni%ersidade de 4ras6lia "no EI, %olume 8 (outubro de 9:8;) Maho Sabiane, 4eyond the lei(ah of Eastern "rabia Structure of a $ossession rite in the longue dur5e, Música em Contexto, 4ras6lia N7 8 (9:8;)/ 8<=>? 16 sla%e descendants that s$read o%er the