Ziryab

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Abu l-Hasan ‘Ali Ibn Nafi‘ (Persian and Arabic: أبو الحسن علي ابن نافع ) (c. 789—857), nicknamed Ziryab (زرياب, Persian for Gold-finder)[1], was a poet, a musician and singer and one of the most famous gourmands at the Umayyad court in Córdoba in Spain. Historians differ over whether Ziryab was Kurdish [2], Persian [3] [4] or African. According to some sources, he was a former slave, possibly a Zanj of Tanzanian descent. He first achieved notoriety at the Abbasid court in Baghdad, Iraq, his birth place, as a performer and student of the great musician and composer, Ishaq al-Mawsili. Zyriab came originally from the Dasht-e Arzhan area of the Fars Province of Persia.

Ziryab was a gifted pupil of Ishaq al-Mawsili. He had to leave Baghdad when his skills as a musician surpassed those of his teacher. He moved to Córdoba in southern Spain and was accepted as court musician in the court of Abd al-Rahman II of the Umayyad Dynasty (822-52).

Ziryab's garden

According to a few sources, Zyriab was a liberated black slave from the Baghdad court of Haroun al-Rashid [5]. Ziryab left Baghdad some time after the death of the Caliph al-Amîn in 813 and traveled first to Sham (Syria), then to Ifriqiyya (Tunisia), where he lived at the Aghlabid court of Ziyadat Allah (ruled 816-837). Ziryab fell out with Ziyadat Allah but was invited to Al-Andalus by the Umayyad prince, al-Hakam I. He found on arrival in 822 that the prince had died, but the prince's son, Abd ar-Rahman II, renewed his father's invitation. Ziryab settled in Córdoba, where he soon became even more celebrated as the court's aficionado of food, fashion, singing and music. He introduced standards of excellence in all these fields as well as setting new norms for elegant and noble manners. He was an intimate companion of the prince and established a school of music that trained singers and musicians which influenced musical performance for at least two generations after him. In the 9th Century he introduced the New Year celebration based on the Kurdish holiday Newroz to the courts of Andalusia in Spain and thence to Europe. [6]

Ziryab is said to have improved the technique of playing the 'ud, created a unique and influential style of musical performance, and written songs that were performed in Spain for generations. He was a great influence on Spanish music, and is considered the founder of the Andalusian music traditions of North Africa and the Middle East. Zyriab is thought to have codified the disparate elements of Arab poetic traditions of qasidah, mwashah and zajal.[7]

Louie Provencal, the renowned historian of Spanish civilization says about Ziryab, "he was a genius and his influence in Spanish society of the time not only encompassed music but also all aspects of Society.” Titus Burkhart, the German historian of Islam writes, “he was a genius musical scholar and at the same time the one who brought persian music to Spain and consequently to all of the western world. He was able to replace the primitive ways of Arabs of that time with persian elegance.”

Abd al-Rahman II was a great patron of the arts and Zyriab was given a great deal of freedom. He established one of the first schools of music, introduced the oud into Europe, and made changes to the structure of the oud adding more strings. He was supposedly a great virtuoso on the oud and an amazing singer. Ziryab also introduced musical instruments,-notably the Persian lute that became the Spanish guitar- as well as passionate songs, tunes and dances of Persia and Mesopotamia that later, mixed with Gypsy influence, evolved into the famed Spanish flamenco. Ziryab established a music conservatoire at the court of Abdel-Rahman at Cordoba. It is to Ziryab that we owe the fifth string. (The German scholarly book "Moorish Architecture" by Barrucand states that Ziryab also introduced good taste, fine court manners and even new hair cuts into Spain)

[edit] References

Zaryab the Persian, in: Titus Brukhardt, "Die Maurische Kultur in Spanien.
Ziryab, the musician, astronomer, fashion designer and gastronome FSTC Limited, Fri 13 June, 2003.
Flight of the Blackbird Robert W. Lebling Jr., Saudi Aramco World July/August 2003.