Kitab al-Aghani

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Illustration from Kitab al-aghani (Book of Songs), 1216-20, by Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani, a collection of songs by famous musicians and Arab poets.

Kitab al-Aghani (Arabic: كتاب الأغاني‎, The Book of Songs), is a collection of poems and songs with the stories of the composers and singers in many volumes from the oldest epoch of Arabic literature down to the 9th century, written by the Arab scholar Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani. The poems were put to music, but the musical signs are no longer readable. Because of the accompanying biographical annotations on the authors and composers, the work is an important historical source. It contains a mass of information as to the life and customs of the early Arabs, and is the most valuable authority we have for their pre-Islamic and early Islamic days.

[edit] See also

• Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani
• List of Arab scientists and scholars
• Imru' al-Qais
• Maqamat (literature)

[edit] References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
• Columbia Encyclopedia

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