Long before Islam, the Arabs knew this route between the two coastlines of the Indian Ocean – Africa and Asia Minor. Having set up along the African coast, they then went towards the nearby islands. Arab and Persian navigators introduced the slave trade in the 9th century. An original musical repertoire has developed over the centuries, in a meeting of African and Islamic traditions. The Deba songs and dances, practiced exclusively by women and girls, evoke the great Sufi ceremonies.

Within the drama of slavery, which extended right to the beginning of the 20th century, an original musical culture was forged between the African traditions and the contribution of Arabian music of Muslim religion. The black communities, now freed, descendants of slaves, have preserved and fostered different musical genres, springing from the forced meeting of their own cultures and the Islamic Arab tradition. Singing, dance and ritual ceremonies such as the Zar (a healing ritual) or the Dhik (a ritual of Sufi allegiance), have survived until today, in a skilful blend of Africa and the Arab world, in ancient trading posts, such as Madagascar or the Comoros, higher up along the Yemeni coastline and of the sultanate of Oman, around the port of the small town of Bouchehr in Iran, or also through Indian traders, in Indian Gujarat where the last communities of African origin live.