Toub Toub

Toub Toub  is a ceremonial performance artwork  recorded in Ras Al Khaimah Emirate- UAE. The installation re-produces the original practice of singing the song Toub Toub Ya Bahar and is inspired by the ceremonial practice done by women pre-oil period. The act is performed to converse with the sea as a person, to make merit, to form a power-play with the spirit world to bring back the pearl divers from the depth of the sea realm. The ritual performance was a prayer to some women, to others it was a way to express resentment to slave owners and the sea. Some might view it as affirming one’s devotion by carrying out a particular commandment or practice. Exhausted women would perform the ritual on the fourth month during the pearling season, they would gather and walk in rhythmic movement into the sea, some will sing, some will play the drums, others preform repetitive ritualistic acts, like dipping a cat into the water to communicate with the sea, also burning the sea with hot iron or a wooden piece, others throw sharp items to cut the sea open and lastly, they preform a cleansing act by pouring a laxative herb. The sea becomes the rival, and the only way to its salvation is to redeem itself.