Harmonious heritage

One musician’s bid to boost cultural awareness takes him on a journey to find the UAE’s last remaining pearl divers

Standing outside London’s Victoria Train Station in the rain in 1993, a man had just enough money in his pocket to either get the bus home, buy a hot cup of tea or purchase a copy of ‘The Stage’, a weekly publication featuring job openings for actors and musicians.

Opting to buy the publication, he came across an ad for a Spanish/classical guitarist in a five-star hotel in Dubai. One week later, he found himself stepping out of a small airport surrounded by the remarkable wafts of bukhoor into a city that was rising up from a harsh and bleak desert landscape.

That man was musician Jason Carter who has gone on to become an award-winning guitarist and composer who continues to make a concerted effort to develop international cultural understanding through music.

“In those days Dubai was off the beaten track and I loved it,” explains Carter. “It was easier to make contact with locals and the heritage was more tangible. Within three days I found myself sitting in the desert with an Oud player and singers, fumbling my way through Arabic scales. The scales made the hair on the back of my neck stand up, and I was hooked.”

Years later when Carter was invited by the British Council to run a series of workshops in Bahrain, he found himself working with former pearl divers, with no common language except music.

“Music can break down all kinds of barriers between people, and it is just incredible when this happens,” Carter adds. “We gave a concert in Bahrain Arts Centre towards the end of the trip, which the Minister of Culture in Bahrain described as ‘a miracle’. The room was full of Bahrainis who wouldn’t usually sit together, but they had come.”

Carter is hoping his latest initiative in the UAE will prove equally extraordinary. From 4th September, Carter, along with award-winning UAE filmmaker Ray Haddad, will set off down the west coast from Ras Al Khaimah to Abu Dhabi’s Delma Island, meeting up with former pearl divers along the way. The captured scenes will form the basis of a documentary titled ‘A Grain of Sand’, alluding to both the grain of sand that buries its way into an oyster shell to create a pearl and the grains of sand that are used to build every tower in the UAE.

The film represents Carter’s journey in search of the last remaining pearl divers, documenting the last grains of the traditional songs that once echoed along the country’s shores.

“This is a very personal journey for me, a way of giving back something to a place that has given me so much. The UAE, for me, is not about towers or shopping malls; it is about a culture of people who wandered the seas and sands, surviving all odds. Struggle forms character and identity. In the words of Sheikh Zayed: ‘Wealth is not money. Wealth lies in men.’”

Living in a barren land that was too arid for farming, the people of the UAE turned to pearling as a source of income in the 19th and early 20th centuries. While the global demand, at times, saw pearls selling for thousands of pounds, the discovery of pearl cultivation in the 1920s coupled with the global depression in the 1930s marked a steady decline in pearl diving.

Having witnessed the country’s rapid development first-hand, Carter is all too aware of the importance of preserving culture and heritage, a knowledge that led to his latest project.

“Money can buy buildings and museums, but this is not culture. Culture is people, or moreover, the voice of the people.

“The music of the pearl divers spoke of struggle, danger, being lost at sea, dreaming of loved ones. These songs were still being sung just over 50 years ago. What kinds of songs are being sung today, and what are the struggles of the people in the UAE today? Do we hear that in song writing today? Part of the process in the making of this film is to archive what we find.”

During the fortnight of filming, Carter hopes to connect with former divers and host impromptu ‘concerts’, stirring up memories with the echoes of Oud, guitar and rhythmic clapping.

Carter is also searching for an up-and-coming Emirati pop singer to add to the mix, playing on the country’s juxtaposition of old and new.

‘A Grain of Sand’ will be premiered at the Volvo Ocean Race Abu Dhabi on 27th December.

Sponsorship

Carter and Haddad are looking for sponsorship opportunities from both individuals and companies in the UAE.

“The bottom line is, if the content of what we captured is amazing, it doesn’t matter what we film it on. But it would be great to capture this in cinematic quality with the best sound and colour possible.”

Following the film’s premiere in the capital, the experienced musician hopes to licence the film to international stations from BBC to National Geographic as well as international film festivals.

To find out more or to contribute, email: [email protected] or visit: www.jasoncarter.net

Rachael Peacock