dubsahara

Persian Poetry

Poetry is the art of the Iraqis, and sung poetry is the finest of all. In Baghdad from 760-1260, writers spurned musical notation. The music is melodically modal, and moves in a stepwise motion with repeated notes. Use of the lower end of a melodic range is characteristic, as is the use of silence; one listens through the silence. Following a cadence, the singer moves up to the next range of pitches. An arch shape is discernible, and the work ends in the original mode.

Iraqi classical music necessitates some discussion of the social environment, as well as references to the poetry. Singers of the Baghdad Court were praised for their excellence in composition, their knowledge of history and songs, and their ornaments and innovations. There was support for female singers and orators, such as the beautiful Arib, a skilled poetess, calligrapher, lutenist, composer, and backgammon player who wrote more than 1,000 songs. The common instrument (comparable in popularity to the piano or violin in the west) is the oud. Classical Iraqi music is identifiable by the genre/canon, and by how it is performed.

Ruba’iyat, a collection of Ruba’i (a form of Persian poetry). The best-known example of such a collection is the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, to the extent that Rubaiyat is often used as a short name for this particular collection.

The development of Arabic music has deep roots in Arabic poetry dating back to the pre-Islamic period known as Jahiliyyah the 5th and the 7th century AD. Arab poets of that time – called “Jahili poets” which translates to “The poets of the period of ignorance” – used to recite poems with a high musical rhythm and tone. Music at that time played an important role in cultivating the mystique of exorcists and magicians. It was believed that Jinns revealed poems to poets and music to musicians. The Choir at the time served as a pedagogical tool where the educated poets would recite their poems. Singing was not thought to be the work of these intellectuals and was instead entrusted to women with beautiful voices (i.e. Al-Khansa) who would learn how to play some instruments used at that time (i.e. lute, drum, Oud , rebab, etc…) and then perform the songs while respecting the poetic metre. It should be noted that the compositions were simple and every singer would sing in a single maqam. Among the notable songs of the period were the “huda” from which the ghina’ derived, the nasb, sanad, rukbani.