ABSTRACT
Of all the regional arts those of the Upper Gulf ḥaḍar are among the most complicated to organize since there is so much borrowing and mingling of elements between groupings. Moreover, in one time period a genre might be associated with one social group or type of performer, and in another era, with a different one. Further confusing the issue is that many terms have more than one meaning, and similar arts might go by different names in different Gulf regions. Regardless, it is especially important to examine these ḥaḍar genres since, as is the case with “desert” or Najdi ḥaḍar arts, many of the rhythms and styles are both alive and well in their original form as well as in modern commercial khalīlji music.
