Who was the perfect musician? 1- It is a period that is characterized as the golden period for arabs 2- It lasted more than 500 years 3- There was economic prosperity; people were thriving duo to multiple factors but the most important factor is : a. Translation movement (bring any book in any language and it will be translated into Arabic) b. Caliph spent so much mon ey for this project where he would pay the weight of new books in gold c. It is written that there are 70 translators (only well known) d. They want to preserve everything because they rememeber when the library of alexanfria burned and with it burned numerous books that were lost foreber 4- The mangols managed to invade Baghdad, and they did 2 things to the library: a. Burned more than half of it b. And the rest were thrown into the river to be used as bridge for the river 5- Why did they do this? a. The mangols are not really cultured people, and this document did not give them any kind of importance b. Other theory says that they did it on purpose just to erase anything relating to the advancement of the Arabic culture 6- Scientist migrates to the west where it is balanced 7- And in there is an alternation between war and peace… 8- What was the profile of a good musician? 9- Characteristics of the perfect musician: a. Gifted with a natural inclination to music b. Combines creative power and great ability as a performer c. (creative means he can improvise and masters his instrument) d. Is a singer and plays on one or more instruments e. (singer since poetry was linked to music) f. Can write prose and verse and is a man of great culture (he has to write poetry and be a man who understands philosophy and sciences and could engage in philosophical conversations) 10- You will be the musician of caliph and it comes with a lot of effot (you will live with the khalifa) 11- If he does not tings that change the mood of the caliph he would lose his position 12- And the perfect musician would get extreme wealth ( it is said that some musicians accumulated huge wealth) 13- Music was a 2nd shi shaghle 14- With time we have people that are studying music 15- He needs to adapt to unexpected situations 16- In this case it is the caliph 17- In early Arabic periods, musicians were slaves from persian origins\ 18- But it started to change, al Kuttab is a very high class of administrators (metel el moudir el 3am bel nesbe lal wazir) 19- They used to pay for musicians but they themselves became musicians 2021222324252627282930- 3132- 33- Younus al kateb writes a book about music called kitab el aghani Ebn el moukaffa writes stories about animals depicting what happens in real life A caliph Ibrahim ebn al mahdi became a musician himself He leaves political life to become a phenomenal singer with a phenomenal vocal range He comes and he develops a new school (modernistic) of music which values goes against a traditional music school Traditional school observers the values that was relayed to from the Jahiliya Ibrahim goes against the natural weight of the lyrics, he believes we need to leave room for (ma laha2et ektob) People liked it, and he had Al Nadim: many musicians became close companions to their atrons, sharing drinking moments with them, and becoming this confident. Nadim means a very close companion, he was the drinking companion, when you drink with someone (not getting drunk) , you share a lot of secrets. Ibrahim al mawsili: a. Companion of caliph harun al rashid b. Professional musician, singer and instrumentalist. c. Prolific composer: around 900 compositions d. Was involved in an artistic controversy with ibn jami’ that revolved around the two dominant musical tendencies of the time: the ancients and the moderns Ishac was one of the most prominent musicians during the abbasid period Ishak al mawsili: a. Son of Ibrahim al mawsili b. Considered the greatest musician of all time and regarded as the model of the perfect widely cultured musician c. Excellent singer, instrumentalist, composer, theorist, and musicographer who also wrote poetry and prose d. Was also an expert in jurisprudence (tefsir el awenin wel shari3a) and philology and excellent in entertaining conversations e. Kept secrets as to his art (because of the competition) f. Had great influence and his opinion about other musicians was decisive to their careers g. His story with ziryab (ziryab is a musician who lived during abbasid period, ziryab means black bird, al 3andalib al asmar, black because ziryab had dark skin and bird since he had a beautiful voice, ishak threatened ziryab and told him to leave Baghdad siryab leaves Baghdad and was so afraid that he travels and settles down in andalos because andalos was not under abbasid rules, it was under omayat rules. When ziryab went to andalos, it is told that he was a strange person, when he comes to the omayat court he introduces them to toothpaste, deodorant, the art of cuisine (knowledge gained from the translate documents), he starts playing music on instruments, and he developed andaulsian music h. He contributed to al mwashah al andalusi, it should have been Baghdadi. i. Was committed to defend the values of the ancient and classical style. A controversy that opposed him to ibn al mahdi.(traditional school) Ibrahim ibn al mahdi: a. An accomplished and cultured musician of his day b. Leader of the modernistic school that attempeted to free itself from the bonds of the strict rhythmic and melodic rules laid down by the ancients: i. He advocated more artistic freedom and the giving of wider scope to the creative imagination.
