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| Ziryab, inventor of the guitar. |
Perhaps the most influential musician whom few people have
heard of is Abu al-Hasan, better known as Ziryab. Ziryab was a black
slave born in Baghdad in the late 8th century. He was a gifted
musician, and by all accounts, a sweet and charming man. This is how he
earned his nickname, which means “blackbird”. In the Arab world of the
early 9th century, it was possible to advance out of slavery, unlike
in the later slave economies of North America. (Not that this justifies
slavery; it’s just important to establish Ziryab’s roots and just how high he
rose.)
It didn’t take Ziryab long to earn the attention of the
caliph’s court musician, who took him under his wing and helped him develop his
talents. Soon, Ziryab surpassed even the court musician, and stunned the
caliph himself. Ziryab gave the maiden performance of a song he’d written
for the caliph right there in his court, and immediately the caliph was
enchanted. The problem for Ziryab was that the performance was too
good. The court musician wrote him a letter afterward, warning him that
he’d denounce and ruin Ziryab because he couldn’t stand to have such talented
competition in the same city, and strongly suggested that he get out of
town. So that’s just what Ziryab did.
I should note that the performance he gave was on his own
oud (which is much like the lute that was commonly played in Europe). The
oud and the lute have been around since ancient Greece, dating back to about
1500 BCE. The idea behind the oud is that it’s got four strings, each one
representative of the body’s four humors. Music, it was said, could help
someone get their humors in balance, and fight illness; the four strings were
designed to do that. Ziryab, a very religious man, designed his own lute,
adding a fifth string, which he said represented the heart, or the soul.
This five-stringed lute he developed, which was shaped a little differently and
about one-third as heavy, later came to be known by a different name: the
guitar.
When Ziryab got out of town, he headed west, to Cordoba, in
Spain. There he found work in the court of the local emir, where he
became one of the most celebrated musicians in the world. Musicians from
all over Europe and north Africa traveled to Cordoba to meet with Ziryab, and
were still coming there to study his compositions over a century after his
death. Besides inventing the guitar, he invented other instruments, like
the oboe, the trombone, the harp and a precursor to the zither, as well as
different kinds of flutes. Music as we know it would certainly have
evolved if it weren’t for Ziryab, but it likely wouldn’t resemble what it is
today at all.
One thing about Ziryab is that music is just the tip of the
iceberg with him. He also influenced European and Arab manners, fashion,
food, hygiene and customs in ways that are still reflected in modern
cultures. I would go on about this man’s broad, enduring influence, but
this has gone on plenty long enough!
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