They did this by promoting music for their own reli-gious needs and by creating conditions for a wider musical culture in general.. One issue with the written sources is that they may us
Trang 1to improvise effortlessly, able to write good prose and verse,
and having a wide general cultural knowledge
During the Abbasid Dynasty (749–1258) Muslim music
reached its zenith At that time music in al-Andalus began
to attain a character that was distinct from Arabian music
Politically, Abbasid hegemony began its decline in the 11th
century, ending in the Mongol invasion in 1258 In
al-Anda-lus the Spanish captured Granada in 1492, effectively ending
the golden age This split the Muslim world into smaller,
in-dependent states Musical life, however, continued Although
it was less fertile and less original than before, it benefited
in some ways from decentralization At the various smaller
courts music was encouraged by rulers anxious for prestige
and was able to assimilate new local contributions, leading
to greater diversity The Sufi orders, primarily in Turkey and
Iran, contributed the most to developing art music at that
time They did this by promoting music for their own
reli-gious needs and by creating conditions for a wider musical
culture in general
Many varied musical instruments were in use during the
medieval period One issue with the written sources is that
they may use several different names to refer to one
instru-ment, or conversely one name may be used to refer to several
different instruments For example, the term mizmar could
refer to wind instruments in general, double- or single-reed
instruments, or even the psalm
Idiophones included metal castanets, cymbals attached
to a dancer’s thumb and middle finger; wooden spoons;
cop-per plates; and oil containers The Bedouins used a wooden
coffee grinder (mihbaj), which consisted of a 1-foot-tall base
and a 2-foot-long pestle The mihbaj served a dual purpose
of being a household item and, in the hands of an artist, a
percussion instrument
Membranophones were circular or rectangular frame
drums (duff) Some had jingling disks, while others had
strings stretched under the skin One type of vase-shaped
drum (darbukkah or tablah) was made out of earthenware
The zarb was placed under the left arm or between the legs
and beaten in the middle and near the edge with both hands
Cylindrical drums (tabl) with two skins hung from the
player’s neck and were beaten with two flexible sticks These
were typically used at processions and open-air ceremonies
Kettledrums (naqqarat), hemispherical with skin stretched
on top, came in pairs (a large one and small one) These were
played during pilgrimages During the late Abbasid and
Fatimid (909–1171) dynasties kettledrums were beaten before
the daily prayers
Aerophones included reed instruments, flutes, and horns
Oblique reed flutes (nay) did not have a mouthpiece and came
in different lengths They usually had five or six holes on the
upper side and one hole on the bottom side Notes could be modified by blowing more or less forcefully Double-reed
in-struments (zurna or ghayta) were similar to the oboe These
were made out of wood and widened at the bottom into a bell shape The reed, enclosed in a small brass mouthpiece, was held entirely inside the player’s mouth as the lips pressed on
a small metal ring These instruments had seven or eight fin-ger holes A great variety of single-reed instruments had two pipes, some with pipes of equal length and others with one pipe longer than the other Other aerophones were the horn
(buq) and the long trumpet (nafir).
Chordophones were string instruments, most of which were plucked, not bowed The most prominent string instru-ment was the short-necked lute with a pear-shaped body,
called the ‘ud or the amir al-tarab (“the prince of
enchant-ment”) Initially it had four strings and frets, but later ver-sions had five double strings and were fretless Long-necked
lutes were widespread The sitar had four strings and 25
mov-able frets It was plucked with the nail of the index finger The
tar had a figure-eight body and was covered with skin It had
three double strings and was plucked with a plectrum, or a
pick Others—such as tambur, komuz, and dombra—had two,
three, or four strings The two main types of instruments were
essentially trapezoidal boxes (cithar) The qanun had 24 triple
strings, under the end of which were little movable bridges to allow the player to modify the tuning It was held on the play-er’s knees and was plucked with a plectrum attached to each
index finger The santur had 72 strings grouped in fours and
supported by 18 movable bridges in two rows of nine, which divided the whole into three registers It was struck with two
sticks The only bowed instrument was the rabab A simple
one was either rectangular or round, covered in skin, and strung with a single string Another kind was oval or
spheri-cal and had two strings A more complex type (kamanja) had
three or four strings and a wooden body ending in a peg All these were played by holding the bow steady and moving the instrument
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Further reading
Arthur Llewellyn Basham, The Wonder That Was India: A Survey
of the History and Culture of the Indian Sub-Continent before the Coming of the Muslims, 3rd ed (Columbia, Mo.: South Asia
Books, 2000).
756 music and musical instruments: further reading