Ghazi Al Mulaifi has been introducing Kuwaiti pearl diving music to a new generation through his jazz-fusion band Boom.Diwan. In addition to releasing Live in the Khaleej, a collaboration with Grammy Award-winning Afro-Cuban pianist Arturo O’Farrill, and leading the ensemble at European festivals and on stages including the Lincoln Centre in New York, Al Mulaifi is a musicologist at NYU Abu Dhabi, where he has spent years reviving and reimagining this cultural tradition.
We sat down with him and got him to answer our One Last Thing questionnaire.
What is your favourite time of day and why?
Three or four in the morning, when everybody’s asleep. It’s quiet, I can think and it feels peaceful.
What is your favourite restaurant in the world?
Raku in New York City. It doesn’t exist any more but it was a neighbourhood sushi spot where you always felt at home.
When was the first time you realised your parents were human?
I don’t know when the first time was.
What do you want to be when you grow up?
A musician. I don’t want to grow up, really. I want to keep dreaming, my feet on the ground and my head in the clouds.
Do you have any hidden talents?
I’m a mean cook.
Ghazi Al Mulaifi says he loves New York City but could never live there.
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