Barbad
Barbad (
Despite scarce biographical information, Barbad's historicity is generally secure. He was highly regarded in the court of Khosrow, and interacted with other musicians, such as Sarkash. Although he is traditionally credited with numerous innovations in Persian music theory and practice, the attributions remain tentative since they are ascribed centuries after his death. Practically all Barbad's music or poetry is lost, except a single poem fragment and the titles of a few compositions.
No Sasanian sources discuss Barbad, suggesting his reputation was preserved through oral tradition, until at least the earliest written account by the poet Khaled ibn Fayyaz (d. c. 718). Barbad appears frequently in later Persian literature, most famously in Ferdowsi's Shahnameh. The content and abundance of such references demonstrate his unique influence, inspiring musicians such as Ishaq al-Mawsili. Often described as the "founder of Persian music", Barbad remains a celebrated figure in modern-day Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan.
Name
Posthumous sources refer to the
Background
The
Though many
Life and career
Early life
There are contradictory ancient accounts as to the location of Barbad's birthplace. Older sources record the city of Merv in northeastern Khorasan,[21][n 5] while later works give Jahrom,[n 6] a small city south of Shiraz in Pars.[16] Tafazzoli postulated that the writers who recorded Jahrom were referencing a line of Ferdowsi's Shahnameh that says Barbad traveled from Jarom to the capital in Ctesiphon when Khosrow was murdered;[16] the modern historian Mehrdad Kia records only Merv.[21]
Ferdowsi and al-Tha'alibi both relay a story that Barbad was a gifted young musician who sought a place as a court minstrel under Khosrow II but the jealous chief court minstrel Sarkash[n 3] supposedly prevented this.[22] As such, Barbad hid in the royal garden by dressing in all green.[21] When Khosrow walked by Barbad sang three songs with his lute: Dād-āfrīd ("created by god"), Peykār-e gord ("battle of the hero" or "splendor of Farkar") and Sabz dar sabz ("green in the green").[22] Khosrow was immediately impressed and ordered that Barbad be appointed chief minstrel,[22][23][n 7] a position known as the shah-i ramishgaran.[9][n 8] In Nizami's Khosrow and Shirin, Khosrow II is said to have had a dream where his grandfather Khosrow I prophesied that he would have a "have a minstrel called Barbad whose art could make even poison taste delicious".[25]
Stories with Khosrow
Since his appointment at court, Barbad was Khosrow's favorite musician, and many stories exist about this prestige.
In the literary scholar Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani's Kitab al-Aghani, a jealous rival musician once untuned the strings of Barbad's lute during a royal banquet. Upon returning to perform, Barbad began to play; royal rules forbade the tuning instruments in the Shahanshah's presence, but Barbad's skill was such that he could adapt to the untuned strings and play the pieces regardless.[29] Al-Isfahani attributed this story to Ishaq al-Mawsili (776–856)—a renowned minstrel under Harun al-Rashid—who purportedly relayed the story to friends.[28]
Among the most popular legends about Barbad involves Khosrow's beloved horse Shabdiz. In this story, Khosrow declared that when Shabdiz died, anyone who announced the news would be executed.[23] Upon Shabdiz's death, no members of the court wished to risk conveying the news.[26] To resolve the issue, Barbad sang a sad song, and Khosrow, understanding the purpose of the song, stated "Shabdiz is dead"; Barbad responded "Yes and it is your majesty who announced it", thereby preventing any possibility of death.[23] This story was relayed earliest by the poet Khaled ibn Fayyaz (d. c. 718),[n 4] with later accounts by al-Tha'alibi and the 13th-century writer Zakariya al-Qazwini.[26] Many similar ancient stories originated in Iran, Turkey and Central Asia that pertain to musicians using music to express the death of a ruler's horse, as to avoid the ruler's wrath against the announcer.[30] Various pieces for the Khwarazm dutar, Kyrgyz komuz and Kazakh dombra relay equivalent stories.[30] Tafazzoli asserts that the story demonstrates Barbad's unique influence on Khosrow,[26] while musicologist Lloyd Miller suggest that this and similar stories suggest that music and musicians in general exerted a significant influence on their political leaders.[31]
Death
Like his birthplace, there are conflicting accounts surrounding the final years of Barbad's life. According to Ferdowsi, upon the murder of Khosrow by
Music and poetry
Barbad was active as a poet-musician,
A single poem by Barbad survives, though in a quoted state from the Kitab al-lahw wa al-malahi by Ibn Khordadbeh.[13] The work is a 3-hemistich panegyric in Middle Persian, but with an Arabic script;[37] none of its music is extant.[13] The poem is as follows:
Ceasar resembles the moon and Khaqan the sun,
[but] my lord is like the rich clouds,
whenever he wants he hides the moon or the sun.— Barbad, in the Kitab al-lahw wa al-malahi by Ibn Khordadbeh[38]
Christensen suggested in 1936 that the text Khvarshēdh ī rōshan (lit. 'The shining sun') is from a poem that was written and performed by Barbad himself or another poet-musician of his time.
The shining sun, the beaming full moon
Resplendent and beaming behind the trunk of a tree;
The eager birds strut about it full of joy,
The doves and the colorful peacocks strut about.— Khvarshēdh ī rōshan (lit. 'The shining sun'), attri. unknown Sasanian musician, possibly Barbad[4]
Barbad is traditionally regarded as the inventor of numerous aspects of Persian music theory and practice. Al-Tha'alibi first credited him with creating an organized
Reputation
Barbad's lute was the four-stringed
"Among the ancient musicians, there were those who never played the same melody twice in presence of the king. Such was Barbad, who lived during the time of [Khosrow II]. He took care to study his audience well. He paid attention to the disposition of his listeners' souls, and then he would improvise words and a melody suited to the occasion and corresponding perfectly to each person's desire. His fame spread throughout the world, and [Khosrow] boasted about the fact that neither the kings of the past, nor those of his time, possessed such an artist."
The preponderance and frequent transmission of stories involving Barbad attest to his popularity long after his death.[47][28] In modern-day Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan, Barbad continues to be a celebrated figure.[47] In 1989 and 1990 the cultural establishment of the Tajik government encouraged their people to find pride in Barbad's achievements; the panegyrics given for Barbad are part of a larger effort by the Tajik government to pass off the "achievements of pre-Islamic Iranian civilization" as Tajik ones.[48] The largest musical hall of Dushanbe, Tajikistan, is named "Kokhi Borbad" after Barbad.[47]
Musicologist Firoozeh Khazrai sums up Barbad's legacy as such:
"From the sources and nature of the things attributed to Barbad, we can conclude that Barbad survived in an oral popular culture that immortalized him by continually retelling old stories about him, and the legendary power of his music, and by spinning out new ones. While all these stories mythologize Barbad without telling us any solid information about the actual nature of his music, they underscore the unparalleled authority of the minstrel and the powerful grip he and his music continued to exercise on the imagination of the people in the post-Sasanian era."
— Firoozeh Khazrai[28]
-
Illustration from the Shahnameh with Barbad in a tree in the top right. The work is kept at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art[49]
-
1535 painting of Barbad (pictured in the tree), attributed to Mirza Ali
References
Notes
- ^ Virtually all sources in this article use the form "Barbad"—albeit sometimes differing in use of the transliterated diacritic marking over the "a" (e.g. "Bārbad")—see Curtis (2003, pp. 137–138), Kia (2016, p. 151), Miller (2012, p. 6) and Tafazzoli (1988, § para. 1) for instance.
- ^ Āzādvar-e Changi is also known as simply Āzād.[6]
- ^ a b c There is much contradiction in modern sources over the musicians Nagisa (Nakisa) and Sarkash (also Sargis or Sarkas). Some sources, such as During (1991a, p. 39) and Farhat (2004, p. 3) present them as separate individuals, listing them both as among the musicians of Khosrow's court. Other sources, such as Lawergren (2001, §5 "Sassanian period, 224–651 CE") and Farhat (2001, §1 "History") suggest the two are the same person: "harpist Sarkash (also called Nakisā)",[4] and "Nakisa or Sarkash".[7] Matters are made more confusing by the fact that Hormoz Farhat presented the two musicians differently.
- ^ a b See Khazrai (2016, p. 168) for an English translation of Fayyaz's poem
- ^ Older sources that give Merv as Barbad's birthplace include Ibn Khordadbeh's Kitāb al-lahw wa-l-malahi, Hamdallah Mustawfi's Nuzhat al-Qulub, al-Tha'alibi's Ghurar al-saya, as well as accounts by al-Jahiz and Istakhri.[16]
- Farhang-e Jahangiri by Jamal al-Din Hosayn Enju Shirazi and an account by Fakhr al-Din al-Razi.[16]
- ^ The purported story on Barbad's accession to the chief court minstrel post exists in slightly different variants depending on its source. See Khazrai (2016, p. 169–170) for a discussion on the differences between the accounts of Ferdowsi and al-Tha'alibi. See modern retellings from unspecified sources in Curtis (2003, pp. 137–138), Kia (2016, p. 151), Miller (2012, p. 6) and Tafazzoli (1988, § para. 3)
- ^ The minstrel title alone may be referred to as rāmeshgar, gosān, or khunyāgar.[24] "Poet-minstrel" is khunyagaran.[11]
- ^ See Farmer (1926) for a list of all the purported 30 modes.
- ^ Scholar Bo Lawergren notes that having 360 to match the days of a year ignores the five intercalary days.[4]
- ^ Recorded by Rodolphe d'Erlanger (1938).[8]
Citations
- ^ Brooklyn Museum.
- ^ a b c d Tafazzoli 1988, § para. 1.
- ^ Lawergren 2001, §1 "Introduction", §2 "3rd millennium BCE".
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Lawergren 2001, §5 "Sassanian period, 224–651 CE".
- ^ Farhat 2012, "Historic Retrospective".
- ^ a b c d e f g Farhat 2004, p. 3.
- ^ a b c d Farhat 2001, §1 "History".
- ^ a b c d e During 1991a, p. 39.
- ^ a b c Curtis 2003, p. 138.
- ^ During 1991b, p. 154.
- ^ a b Khazrai 2016, p. 165.
- ^ a b Khazrai 2016, pp. 170–171.
- ^ a b c Khazrai 2016, p. 166.
- ^ Lucas 2019, p. 59.
- ^ Lucas 2019, pp. 59, 244.
- ^ a b c d e Tafazzoli 1988, § para. 2.
- ^ Khazrai 2016, p. 169.
- ^ Tafazzoli 1988, § para. 1–7.
- ^ a b Khazrai 2016, p. 171.
- ^ Kia 2016, p. 152.
- ^ a b c Kia 2016, p. 151.
- ^ a b c Tafazzoli 1988, § para. 3.
- ^ a b c Miller 2012, p. 6.
- ^ a b c d Khazrai 2016, p. 164.
- ^ Curtis 2003, p. 142.
- ^ a b c d e f Tafazzoli 1988, § para. 4.
- ^ Curtis 2003, pp. 143–144.
- ^ a b c d Khazrai 2016, p. 167.
- ^ Tafazzoli 1988, § para. 5.
- ^ a b Blum 2001b, §2 "Musicians".
- ^ Miller 2012, p. 19.
- ^ a b c d e f Tafazzoli 1988, § para. 7.
- ^ Curtis 2003, p. 137.
- ^ Blum 2001a, p. 834.
- ^ Khazrai 2016, p. 163.
- ^ Grove 2001.
- ^ a b c d e f Tafazzoli 1988, § para. 6.
- ^ Tafazzoli 1974, p. 338.
- ^ a b c Youssefzadeh 2012.
- ^ Farhat 2001, §5 "Sassanian period, 224–651 CE".
- ^ Orfali 2009, p. 273.
- ^ Khazrai 2016, p. 170.
- ^ Blum 2001b, §4 "Instruments".
- ^ Farhat 2012, "Instruments".
- ^ a b During & Mirabdolbaghi 1991a, p. 106.
- ^ Nettl 2012.
- ^ a b c Kia 2016, p. 153.
- ^ Manz 1998, p. 137.
- ^ LA County Museum of Art.
Sources
- Books
- ISBN 978-0-292-70607-1.
- ISBN 978-0-934211-22-2.
- During, Jean (1991a). "Historical Survey". In During & Mirabdolbaghi (1991), pp. 31–56.
- During, Jean (1991b). "Poetry and Music". In During & Mirabdolbaghi (1991), pp. 153–166.
- During, Jean; Mirabdolbaghi, Zia (1991a). "The Instruments of Yesterday and Today". In During & Mirabdolbaghi (1991), pp. 99–152.
- ISBN 978-0-521-54206-7.
- Khazrai, Firoozeh (2016). "Music in Khusraw Va Shirin". In ISBN 978-1-137-09836-8.
- ISBN 978-1-61069-391-2.
- Lucas, Ann E. (2019). Music of a Thousand Years: A New History of Persian Musical Traditions. Berkeley: JSTOR j.ctv1f884pp.
- Manz, Beatrice F., ed. (1998) [1994]. Central Asia In Historical Perspective. The John M. Olin Critical Issue Series. Boulder: ISBN 978-0-8133-3638-1.
- ISBN 978-1-136-81487-7.
- OCLC 469830825.
- Articles
- ISBN 978-0-8240-6042-8.
- ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0. (subscription or UK public library membershiprequired)
- University of Durham.
- S2CID 163387136.
- ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0. (subscription or UK public library membershiprequired)
- Lawergren, Bo. "I. Pre-Islamic". In Lawergren, Farhat & Blum (2001).
- Farhat, Hormoz. "II. Classical traditions". In Lawergren, Farhat & Blum (2001).
- Nettl, Bruno (2012) [2006]. "Iran xi. Music". Encyclopædia Iranica. Leiden: Brill Publishers.
- JSTOR 20720591.
- Tafazzoli, A. (1988). "Bārbad". Encyclopædia Iranica. Leiden: Brill Publishers.
- Youssefzadeh, Ameneh (2012) [2002]. "Haft Ḵosravāni". Encyclopædia Iranica. Leiden: Brill Publishers.
- "Bārbad". ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0. (subscription or UK public library membershiprequired)
- Web
- "Bahram Gur and Courtiers Entertained by Barbad the Musician, Page from a manuscript of the Shahnama of Firdawsi (d. 1020)". Brooklyn Museum. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
- "King Khusraw Parviz Listening to Barbad the Concealed Musician, Page from a Manuscript of the Shahnama (Book of Kings) of Firdawsi". Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
Further reading
- S2CID 161761104.
- JSTOR 25208066.
- OCLC 500234890.
- Key, Alexander (August 2018). "Translation of Poetry from Persian to Arabic: ʿAbd al-Qāhir al-Jurjānī and Others". S2CID 201011701.
- Tafazzoli, Ahmad (1988). "Bārbad yā Pahlbad". In Afsar, Iraj; Esfahanian, Karim (eds.). Namvara-ye Doktor Mahmud Afsar. Vol. IV. Tehran: Bonyadie Mowqufat-e Afsar. pp. 2222–2235.
External links
"Barbad and Nakisā", a song inspired by Barbad performed by the Tanbur player Nur ʿAli Elāhi on Encyclopædia Iranica