Barbad

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Barbad or Barbad the Great (in Persian: باربد) was the most famous and skilled court musician of the Sassanid Empire of Persia. He created the first ever musical system in the World^{[citation needed]}, known as the Royal Khosravani (Persian: سرود خسروانى), dedicated to the king Khosrau II, who reigned from 590 to 628. This musical system conceived by Barbad consisted of seven royal modes, thirty derivative modes, and three-hundred sixty melodies, one melody for each day of the year. Because in the Iranian calendar, year was divided into 12 months of 30 days and the last 5 days were just celebrated and not counted as part of the year.

This was the oldest Middle Eastern musical system of which some traces still exist. Its enduring heritage is the names given to some of today's gooshehs of the various dastgahs in the modern system of Persian music.

According to the legends, it was Barbad, who through a song - potentially risking his life - informed the Sassanid king, Khosro Parviz of his most beloved horse, Shabdiz's death.

Yaqut Hamawi in Mu'jam Al-Buldan relates that Shabdiz had developed a sickness and its death appeared imminent. Khosro restlessly threatned that: "Whoever brings tidings of Shabdiz's death, shall be executed!". As Shabdiz expired, the royal equerry (Pahlavi: ākhorsālār) resorted to Barbad in frustration to convey this news to Khosro in whichever way he deemed appropriate and receive a certain reward in exchange for the same. Once Khosro's feast started as usual, Barbad tuned his çārtār (four-stringed musical instrument) and played an overwhelmingly melancholic tune. "Lest Shabdiz hath died?" Khosro queried sorrowfully. Barbad immediately replied: "Shahanshah saith thus!". Yaqut also mentions that Khalid Fayyadh has also related this story in verse. ^[1]

Other famous musicians lived in Sassanid dynasty were: Bamshad, Nakisa, Sarkash and Ramtin.

It should be noted that Barbod is a common mistake and the correct form of writing and pronunciation of this name is Baarbad (Cyrillic: Борбад).