Researchers have spoken, during a seminar about relations between Kuwait and India Sunday, how relations between Arabs and Indians developed throughout past decades, as well as influence of music and singing before oil discovery.
Saleh Al-Mesbah talked about Kuwaiti publications and traveling of Kuwaiti men of letters to India, which also combined Pakistan before the latter separation in 1947.
Al-Mesbah talked about history of relations between Kuwait and India, citing the first printing of a collection of Kuwaiti poems in Bombai in 1893.
He said a number of people from the Gulf region printed their own publications about prices and weights of pearls, citing a book about weights of pearls written by Kuwaiti Abdulrazzaq bin Abdullatif Al Abdulrazzaq, printed in 1911.
The seminar is part of activities of Al-Qurain Cultural Festival.
Khaled Al-Rushaid talked about how the Indian language influenced the Kuwaiti dialect.
He said it was hard to know the first journeys between the two sides because of lack of resources. however, he added, a Kuwaiti dhow with the name Al-Wafra sailed in 1837.
Kuwaitis won the confidence of the Indians during that time and many Kuwaiti families lived in India for long years to run their business. This business and interaction between the two sides made Kuwaitis use Indian words in their own dialect.
Ghannam Al-Daikan spoke about the foreign musical relations of Kuwait, and how Kuwaiti musicals were affected by the Indian words and instruments.
Al-Daikan said the Kuwaiti music and singing were influenced to a certain degree through the importation of some instruments and not the performance.