Tālib bin Gharīb

Tālib bin Gharīb, also known as bin Mustehīl, was a musician born in Suhar, in present-day Oman, around 1942. He came from a family bound to the traditional arts of the town: his father was a distinguished musician and, at the same time, a servant of the ruling family. His career illustrates how traditional artistic hierarchies coexisted with the social and economic changes the country underwent in the second half of the twentieth century.

From childhood he learnt percussion, movement, singing and the codes of conduct that governed any performance regarded as an expression of an art (fann). In 1956 he went to Kuwait, as many Suharis of the period did, in search of better economic opportunities during the oil boom and, at times, of training; nevertheless, he was uncomfortable living so far from home. After 1970 he worked as a driver on the road linking Dubai with Suhar. In 1976 he returned to his town and joined the Directorate of Education as a driver; a few years later he took charge of the institution's transport. That post allowed him to serve the arts of Suhar, as his father had done, something he experienced as both a vocation and a duty.

Around 1990 he took de facto leadership of a firqah, a group of performers who presented the arts they considered authentic to the town, the razhah and lāl al-‘ūd dances, and took part in the other arts traditionally reserved for male servants of African origin. Although his father, by then completely blind, remained the nominal head, both men stayed faithful to the ideals and hierarchies that progressive modernisation had relegated. In 1987 the central government arbitrarily designated another set of arts, the wahhābīyah or ‘ayyālah, as Suhar's 'official' arts. The conflict that followed led Tālib to stop performing in 1992, although he continued to attend the group when invited.

His significance lies in the testimony he offers on the tension between local tradition and state cultural policy in Oman. His case documents how an artistic practice transmitted through lineage was displaced by institutional decisions, without the musician ever ceasing to recognise himself in its values.