When Melodies Gather: Oral Art of the Mahra

Saʿīd bir Laʿṭayṭ al-Jidḥī (Ǧēdeḥ)

Bir Laʿṭayṭ (deceased) was one of al-Mahra’s most famous poets from the prerevolutionary era. I was unable to determine the precise dates of his birth or death, although my consultants generally agreed that he died after the conclusion of the First World War but many years before the 1967 revolution in South Yemen. According to my consultants, Bir Laʿṭayṭ emigrated to Kuwait and Bahrain to work, presumably during in the interwar period. Therefore, one can assume that he was in his late teens to thirties in the period between 1918 and 1939. This would place his birth at the turn of the century and his death in the 1950s (Liebhaber, 2013: 123).

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