This article is the result of an investigation from before the Arab Spring and the final reconfiguration of the cultural policies of the States Member of the Gulf Cooperation Council.

It is on the basis of these observations that I will try to show here that the ADACH program does not mark the emergence of a recent patrimonialization process, but rather fits into the continuity of an active cultural policy since the establishment of the Federation in 1971. In fact, we are witnessing a substantial change of the management standards in this country. This corresponds, as will be demonstrated, to the will of Abu Dhabi to regain its supremacy over the other emirates and to become, through culture, the first political and economic player in the Persian Gulf.

The patrimonialization and its processes applied to an intangible object such as music often involve institutionalized consensus on a shared identity. The approach presupposes a selection of the musical object transformed into a symbol, i.e. an entry into certain intemporality and conservation work. This at least is the approach that seems characteristic of the UAE in the last half-century of the building of this new nation-state. If the approach of ADACH corresponded to an inscription of the local Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) in a new cultural and legal space, it seems urgent to know the specificity of the concept of "turâth", that can be considered as the crucible of the local patrimonialization and the Emirati cultural policy since 1971.



1. Harmonize the Musical Legacy of the Nation (1971-2004)


1.1 The emergence of the nation-states of the Gulf: the foundation of the UAE

On December 2^nd 1971, the UAE Federation was proclaimed.^[5] This union of seven emirates emerged after tough negotiations beginning in 1968 (Heard-Bey 1991, 378-422). Beyond the features claimed by each emirate, a general consensus exists on an ideological point of view.^[6] Each emirate shared references with the others, and these references can be described as national identity markers: Arabism, Islamic Heritage, Hospitality, Generosity, and Valour^[7] – keywords which carry strong symbolic value that are circumscribed within Arab Bedouin customs.^[8]

So, since the proclamation of the Federation and its interim constitution, the UAE has endowed itself with a Ministry in charge of Information and Cultural Affairs.^[9] Over the last 25 years, this institution has been the only institution that administers, on the federal level, the representation of the traditional legacy of the country.

1.2 The concept of turâth, a certain vision of society

In this context of national development, the concept of turâth (which means a legacy / a heritage in European language) was the basis for the construction of national identity.^[10] In fact, its use in the context of this cultural policy implies the idea of an object (musical or otherwise) that belongs only to the past, thus emphasizing its distance to the present. The institutional discourse promotes this concept of Heritage to the extent that it raises the awareness of the population about the material progress made since the existence of the nation-state, and lifts the adherence to a national sentiment. In this sense, traditional musical practices are conceived as cut off from present reality.

It is within this dialectic that musical performances are usually subject to an idealized representation during shows and festivals (Montigny 1998, 24-25; Khalaf 2002, 28-32). Above all, this phenomenon is an approach of the State Cultural Institutions that consists of the staging of musical traditions from different cultural communities (Bedu, 'Ajam, Shihuh^[11], Baluchs, Farsi, African). The cultural specificities of these traditions are not specified, which has the effect of erasing any particular element referring to a specific cultural identity of these communities. In this apparent homogeneity, it is difficult to distinguish one community from another and there is nothing to reflect the diversity of the population that actually composes the Nation. On the other hand, the performances are decontextualized from their social and economic traditional framework.^[12] There is no element indicating the interactions or the social stakes of these practices within and between the different communities.

This is what we still see today in festivals where Bedouin traditions such as the 'ayyâlah or al-harbiyyah simultaneously coexist in the same space of the performance with the habban of the Persian origin communities (Persian, Baluch) and leiwah or nubân from the African slaves descendants communities. In fact, nothing allows one to locate or characterize such music and dance in connection to the social and political history of the country. This process contributes to formatting an ideal representation of a desired harmony by the State Cultural Institutions between the various communitarian groups that constitute the Nation. Indeed, the memory of this past refers to a period marked by permanent intertribal tensions and high poverty. Such a situation for the Emiratis today results from a context of subsistence economy and a lack of a strong central government. It is the well-being acquired through State action since the development of the Oil Economy, the gained social stability, and spread of improved living conditions after 1971 that above all else have justified this approach.

Thus, this process, used by National Institutions where nothing allows one to locate or characterize music and dance during festivals, hides a set of historical and cultural markers where the cultural groups particularities which make up the national society are attenuated.

It tries to defuse the cleavages between the various constituent actors of the Nation by integrating their traditional music into a whole symbolized in the notion of turâth. Being that until recently (in the beginning of the ‘90s) the society of the UAE has remained as yesterday – i.e. traversed by intercommunity jolts, such as between Arab Bedouin and Shihuh,^[13] or permeated by the often held idea that descendants of slaves are second-class citizens – it is only the economical growth and the oil windfall redistribution that have allowed the government to stabilize or appease.

We can therefore consider that this selective approach by the occultation of the differences through the cultural events – as will be the case later in the festivals – is not only the result of a reinterpretation of the past into the present, but also the main symbolic reference conveyed within the society of the UAE due to the aesthetic capability of the music to be projected beyond communitarian borders. In this sense, institutional Media (newspapers, radio, television and specialized books) have widely diffused awareness programs favouring the anchoring of a normalized representation of Intangible Heritage.

Thus, any element referring to a particular discourse (warrior poetry,^[14] songs alluding to slavery in the leiwah dance, for example) has been systematically avoided. By contrast, everything has been done to magnify the organizer role of the State in the country's development and the social peace that ensues from it. Under these conditions, this selective cultural policy of the State would be based on three axes that define the institutional discourse widely disseminated in the country (a point of view expressed by Montigny [1998, 23-24] about Qatar that applies perfectly to the UAE): 1. Remember, but forget the traces of the past. 2. Hide historicity and empty the past of its contents. 3. Insist on the positive aspects of the present, projecting an image of society’s progress.

In the end, the turâth is this symbolic space in which the State has built the collective imaginary of the Nation. By reworking the representation of history, i.e. orchestrating its articulation (through cultural events, festivals and commemorations), symbols that exacerbate the feeling of membership and unity throughout the Nation are emphasized (Khalaf 2000). It is through this process of decontextualization of these communities’ musical practices, and to some extent their history, that a collective sense of cohesion and membership to a higher level – based on a new common basis that is the Nation – is promoted. In this way, it sets up a common basis for all communities and tribes in the country that only the State can provide.

1.3 The national construction, a stake in Traditional Music Patrimonialization

The staging of musical tradition involves State control of the involved actors. In the late ‘70s, the Ministry of Information and Culture federated the traditional musicale ensembles and inserted them into a vast network of Folk Arts Associations. The federal government then encouraged traditional musicians to join and participate in the preservation of Heritage and animate the cities cultural life.

The Popular Arts Associations (jam'iyya al-funun asha'biyyah) are structures which depend both on the local government of the Emirate and on the Federation. Grants are awarded annually by the Federal State.^[15] It appears that the associations are not spontaneous and autonomous structures. Their financial and administrative framework demonstrates that they are under the control of the locale authorities (Sebiane 2007, 123). These associations, which are very active in legitimizing the official discourse on the turâth, constitute a dense territorialized network. They are located in areas defined in each city and are controlled economically and musically through their performances at weddings, various celebrations and official commemorations (ibid, 120-125). The local Ministry of Information’s antennas supervise the whole of this system. Ideological ties with the authorities remain strong and maintain a consensus of the official discourse on national unity in the turâth.

If we are talking about some kind of instrumentalization, it is to the extent that the State has developed a ratio of grants towards associations and thus musicians.^[16] This process seems to prolong a relationship of dependency for the musicians, who in many cases are descendants of African slaves. The construction of the United Arab Emirates federation in a unified nation (including a consensual representation of the heritage) was done in such a way as to maintain the stability of the previous social organization system to its foundation. It was an essential step in order to not to upset the hierarchy of groups on which the Bedouin society rests.. Indeed, despite the abolition of slavery in the early ‘60s, many traditional musicians of Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah are in fact descendants of slaves from East Africa or transited through Baluchistan. Let us note that their conditions have barely changed. It was in 2006 that the federal government granted them permanent citizenship. Finally, the institutional appropriation of traditional culture would purely be a managerial action if it did not involve some degree of significant changes observed on formal musical traditions. The leiwah is an illustration, among others, of this collateral phenomenon.

1.4 The leiwah: one tradition, two practices

The leiwah is a therapeutic possession rite of African origin that nevertheless developed in parallel with its ritual dimension, i.e. a profane and festive practice arising from the rite. It is best known today as the profane form. The ritual currently includes a dance performed in a circle, with dancers and singers composed mainly of men. However, at the time when the ritual was practiced, the dance included women and also homosexuals. Many musicians born after the ‘80s join the State’s discourse on this tradition: the rite of possession has never existed and women and homosexuals have never participated in the dance. This change of discourse on their own music reveals the distance that has appeared between the ‘70s and the ‘90s in the UAE between the initial form reported by Danish ethnomusicologist Poul Rovsing-Olsen (1922-1982) and the current tradition.

Our oral sources collected between 2002 and 2009 from musicians, who practiced the leiwah before 1971, indicate that from the first half of the ‘80s to the late ‘90s the reaction of the religious authorities regarding possession practices was negative. It is under the collective pressure that musicians have neglected the practice of leiwah. The possession cult has disappeared from the visible social sphere, but its secular form has been encouraged in the associative frame. It should be added that this is the same period in which female dances disappeared from the leiwah rite and its secular form. This phenomenon is not specific to music of African origin, but also affects Bedouin traditions such as the 'ayyalah dance that involved young female dancers (the na'ashât). Today, it is rare to see these female dancers in public performances as the weddings.^[17]

1.5 Towards an urban representation, secular and modern musical traditions

These phenomena reported by musicians active during the period before creation of the Federation bring to light the tensions that traditional society suffered when the country opened to exogenous cultural influences. Meanwhile, the action of the Ministry of Information and Culture, according to a former official,^[18] was to accompany these societal changes. In the first instance, the aim was to harmonize the common Musical Heritage and then present a national culture in line with the collective perception.

However, by analyzing the local official folk literature published from the ‘70s and ‘80s by the Ministry, it appears that the musical traditions are described on the basis of a moral and puritan point of view. Regarding the leiwah, its dance is described as profane without female participation. It is not associated with any precise local community; it is rather categorized as imported music (fann wafid in Arabic), indicating its otherness compared to the Bedouin culture.^[19]

All this contributes to shaping a consensual and policed representation of leiwah, which has the effect of introducing its profane form in the theatrical reality of cultural events. This phenomenon crystallizes the historical perception of this tradition so that today, during performances of young musicians, singing a text redacted from these publications may be interpreted as traditionally authentic. It appears that this homogenization process has influenced the reading of musical traditions in the UAE. It corresponds to a patrimonialization. In other words, it is the expression of a collective construction of meaning (the implicit social agreement construction) and a reformulation of musical practices in accordance with a shared sense of national identity.


2. Patrimonialization and Cultural Economy (2004-2010)

The cultural policy of Sheikh Zayed al Nahyan during the first two decades of the Federation was to harmonize the Cultural Heritage of different emirates to build a nation-state. After his death in 2004 a major change began in the representation and management of the Heritage as his successors embarked on an unprecedented modernization of the Federation. This new stage is characterized by a rationalized approach to Cultural Heritage, notably through the development of privatization programs led by government institutions.

Based on this dialectic of turâth internalized by the local society, these programs initiate the valorisation of some of its potential. I propose now to examine how the 2004-2011 period represents a paradigm shift in the symbolic transformation of traditional music and in the patrimonialization process; and how the ADACH's Intangible Heritage program of collection and archiving is legitimized.

2.1 New stakes, new strategy, new practices

Over the course of 2000 years, festivals have gradually emerged as the institutional dissemination instrument of culture.^[20] These new structures are developed by weaving various private partnerships. The introduction of the market sector into cultural programming induced a consumption relation with the Heritage objects, which also corresponds to a demand of novelty by the local population.

In 2002, the Ministry of Information ordered a reduction – to be spread out until 2006 – of the annual subsidies to associations, a move which called into question the institutionalized status of traditional musicians. Since the state was no longer their direct interlocutor, musicians changed their strategy and began to defend their interests by bargaining for their performances (Sebiane 2007, 127-132). This situation exacerbated competition between musical ensembles.

In this global context turned toward profit, the strategy of the traditional musician becomes commercial. They are more professional and the quality of their performances no longer depends on the observance of the traditional codes of the performance, but on the spectacular of the musicale exhibition. For example, some associations introduce an electrified instrumentarium in al-razhah, i.e. a Bedouin musical genre. Regarding the leiwah, it is not the qualities of the oboe player, the drummers or the songs that appear important, but the innovation of dance moves. This new formatting process is therefore not based on aesthetic considerations, but results from an approach founded on the economic management of the music.

In addition, the population’s relocation causes a deliquescence of the traditional social ties that are the basis of local musical practices.^[21] These are increasingly cut off from the social fabric, despite awareness programs to re-enter (organization of competitions and mini-festivals for school, for example). The music becomes more and more a consumption object.

2.2 Musical Heritage as a factor of cultural and economic dynamism

In 2006 the Ministry of Information and Culture was replaced by a "Ministry of Culture, Youth and Community Development”. This new structure aims to “highlight the national identity" to "revive the culture and heritage” and transform the UAE into a "major international center of culture". These new concerns are economic and correspond to the decision to develop the tourism industry on a large scale and strengthen the Emiratization policy^[22] after the awareness of the limits of the oil windfall. Those incentives to enter the competitive market have resulted in the change of status of musicians, but also the transformation of Heritage as "Cultural Capital".

This logic of economic development pushes local governments to restructure their own institutions.^[23] Thus in 2005 the emirate of Abu Dhabi reformed the "Cultural Foundation" – whose mission was the public awareness of Heritage – into a new authority called ADACH. This new institution does not hide its claim to develop a unique representation of the Emirate culture to the world. In Dubai, the “Dubai Cultural Council”, which has had the same mission since 2004, integrated a new structure, the DCAA,^[24] in March 2008. This structure quickly found partners in major real estate groups and private companies in the emirate. This is part of a larger strategic project to make Dubai the first Cultural Hub in the region.

This outbidding of projects, all focused on the economic development of culture, reveals a very strong economic rivalry between the different cultural mediators in the UAE. With increased private investment, Culture becomes a factor in economic growth, and turns into a territorialized cultural economy. The Dubai Shopping Festival, the Sharjah Heritage Days and Womad Abu Dhabi are significant examples of this mechanism.

Across cultural policy restructuration, it is therefore the economic reasoning and the criteria of performance and productivity that today guide cultural mass production. This process fits into the new urban space of the UAE. It is adapted to the standards of the WTO and WIPO of which tourism is the mainspring.

This situation would not be problematic for traditional music if it was not in contradiction with declared objectives by the political discourse – that is to say the valorization of the cultural richness and desire to conserve a Cultural Heritage^[25] as the basis of the Nation’s Identity. This cleavage between public interest and private interests is at the heart of the standardization of music previously mentioned.

This situation from my point of view results from a structural mutation. The fragmentation of cultural operators multiplies the mediators and induces changes in traditional significations of music. In this context, the Popular Arts Associations, jam'iyya al-funun asha'biyyah, and traditional musicians are totally disadvantaged in front of a deregulated market.

2.3 Captation, capitalization and the monopoly logic of musical traditions

Our question about the objectives and the action of the ADACH is based on three phenomena: the first is the Heritagization of the musical traditions by the State Cultural Institutions; the second is the recent regionalization of the Heritage by the economic sector; and the third is the legal consistency of the UAE cultural policy with the UNESCO Safeguarding Heritage Convention of 2003.^[26]

Indeed, the safeguarding policies under the Convention involve an institutionalization of the "traditional culture”^[27] which justifies de facto patrimonialization in the Emirates. What is however difficult to see in the approach of the ADACH is the balance between the logic of preservation of the musical traditional "expressions" and the notion of safeguarding and renewing the social dynamics of living traditions. This point is particularly sensitive if we add the break context among the traditional musicians and the absence of an infrastructure dedicated to this safeguarding.

Thus, one can wonder what will be the quality of the musical collection of the ADACH in an already formatted traditional landscape. What will be the criteria for the musical objects selection? How will Emirati communities be part of the safeguarding program of local ICH while the representation of the society is homogenized? This approach of the ADACH can indeed be likened to a form of Emirati heritage monopolization, especially in this context of strong competition between the major emirates which constitute the UAE Federation.

If we take into account David Harvey's analysis of the treatment of cultural goods within the structures with capitalist economy framework, it is the monopolistic rent logic that prevails in a competitive situation:

“All rent is based on the monopoly power of private owners of certain portions of the globe. Monopoly rent arises because social actors can realize an enhanced income-stream […] by virtue of their exclusive control over some directly or indirectly tradable item which is in some crucial respects unique and non-replicable” (Harvey 2001, 395).