Saleh (1908–1986) and Daud (1910–1976) Al-Kuwaity (Arabic: صالح و داوود الكويتي) were Kuwait-born Israeli musicians of Iraqi-Iranian ancestry who rose to prominence in the Arab world in the early twentieth century.[2][3][1] The brothers had a pioneering role in the modern classical music of Iraq and Kuwait, especially the Iraqi maqam and Kuwaiti sawt genres. In 1951, the brothers immigrated from Iraq to Israel.[3][4]
In his childhood, Saleh began studying music in Kuwait from Khaled Al-Bakar, a famous Kuwaiti oud player in the early twentieth century.[8][9][10] He soon began to compose his own music.[8][9][10] Saleh's first song, "Walla Ajabni Jamalec" (By God, I admire your beauty), is still heard on Gulf radio stations.[8][9][10] While still children, the brothers started performing for dignitaries and Al Sabah ruling family members in Kuwait.[8][9][10][12][13] In 1928, the brothers moved to Basra at age 18 and 20 respectively and continued their music career.[6] In 1932 at the time of Iraq's independence, the brothers gained Iraqi citizenship which was later revoked because they immigrated to Israel in 1951. In the late twentieth century, the brothers died in Tel Aviv as Israeli citizens.
Legacy
Despite the constant state of war between Israel and most of the Arab world, the state-controlled radio in Iraq and Kuwait kept on broadcasting their music after the creation of Israel in 1948.[8][9][10] While earlier generations of Arab listeners had been familiar and comfortable with the brothers and their Jewish identity, Arabic radio after the 1970s, increasingly under the control of nationalist movements such as the Ba'ath Party, began to change this by omitting their name, their Jewish identity, or their Israeli citizenship from credits, causing this history to be forgotten; upon his ascent to power in 1979, Saddam Hussein had their names expunged from the Iraqi national archives, re-designating hundreds of their songs as anonymous “folk melodies”.[14][15]
The brothers had a pioneering role in the modern music of Kuwait.[9] They were widely considered among the earliest pioneers of the Kuwaiti sawt genre.[8][10][9][20][11][21][22] According to Saleh in 1979, prior to 1930 the only music known in Kuwait was “Kuwaiti, Bahraini, Yemeni, and Hijazi”.[23] The brothers were one of the earliest Kuwaiti recording artists and joined an ensemble group with other Kuwaiti musicians such as Abdullatif al-Kuwaiti and Saud al-Makhayta.[24][25][26][27] According to ‘’Haaretz‘’, the ruler of Kuwait begged Saleh to withdraw his decision to immigrate to Israel because he believed the culture of Kuwait and Iraq would suffer severe damage due to his departure.[4]
In 2011, Daoud’s grandson, Israeli rock musician Dudu Tassa, formed the band ‘’Dudu Tassa and the Kuwaitis’’ to play his grandfather’s and great-uncle’s music. The band has released three albums and has toured in Israel and elsewhere, opening for Radiohead in their 2017 US tour.[3]
^Lisa Urkevich (19 December 2014). "12". Music and Traditions of the Arabian Peninsula: Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar. Routledge. p. 239. ISBN978-0415888721.
