This Sea is Mine
2021
Live performance, 3-channel video installation, 15’55"
Commissioned by Diriyah Biennale Foundation
Photo Courtesy of Hayat Osamah
The performance piece This Sea is Mine uses vocals and movements to revive ancient practices and create a new form of transcultural solidarity in an era marked by geopolitical friction, mass migration, and diaspora. In the piece, AlMugait incorporates three chants that originated in different indigenous populations.
The first is a traditional Oriental chant, a spiritual form with an improvisational element. The next is a South African Xhosa chant, a call to ancestors typically sung by elder women in the tribe and accompanied by clapping and movement. Finally, Fijiri is a folk sea chant that has been practiced in Arabian Gulf countries for decades as an auspicious ritual for sailors and pearl divers.
AlMugait's performance is a collaboration with Abo Gabi, a Palestinian musician who specializes in Oriental chanting, Annalyzer Stuurman, a singer and performing artist from South Africa, and the AlAfrah Group from Dammam, Saudi Arabia, who perform folk sea chants from the Gulf region.
The piece also incorporates movements designed by Saudi choreographers, Lamees AlSaddique and Ijlal AlSomali and is performed by twelve local women. Their movements respond to three vocalists as they sing in unison and harmony. These disparate cultural forms come together to create unexpected human connections, highlighting the similarities between different cultures and proposing a metaphorical bond of similarity between nations.
Performers:
Ahad Abuobeida Yousif Bashir, Ghalia Almadani, ijlal Alsomali, Joj Mourad, Layan Yousef, Muna Abdullah, Munirah Badr, Nouf Salamah , Noura Sultan Alabdulaziz, Reem Alattallah, Tamara Kalo, Dima Alsabbagh
