page_title: Hessa al-Rifa'i
section_title: Folklore Studies
hierarchical_section_title: Hessa al-Rifa'i / Biography / Folklore Studies
caption_attribution_description: English: Fishing boat in Kuwait in August 1980.
context_page_description: Hessa al-Rifa'i is a folklorist and poet from Kuwait.
context_section_description: Al-Rifa'i is an expert in the culture and history of sea-songs and shanties, from Kuwait and the Persian  Gulf region. She studied has studied their musical structure, demonstrating that they follow Arabic melodic structures. She has also studied the movement of Arabic musical traditions across the Mediterranean to Andalusia. As well as the musical heritage of sea-shanties, al-Rifa'i has studied the cultural practices that go alongside: for example women performing rituals, such as placing a bar of hot iron in the sea, to ensure the safe return of fishermen. In addition, al-Rifa'i studies comparative folk literature, including the Cinderella narrative in Kuwaiti tradition. She has worked on the legacy of the folk-poet Zaid Al-Harb.
caption: Fishing boat, Kuwait 1980
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