Conceptual Basis of Music in Siljuk Period based on the 5th to 7th Centuries A.H. Texts

Subject Areas : The Journal of Islamic History and Civilisation

بابک خضرائی ¹ (ندارد)

Received: 2012-04-03 Accepted : 2012-05-22 Published : 2012-08-22

Keywords: Music in Siljuk Period, Muhammad Nishābūrī, Kamāl alzamān, Burw-i Parang, Nafīr,

Abstract :

Very little is known about the music under the Siljuks. This waspossibly due to the nature of the music itself, which unlike somemonuments, metal works and other handcrafts, and also poets’collections, has gone forever, and also in the Siljuks era (maybe as aresult of wars and various displacements), it was not usual to writetreatise on music. However, there are some reports and signs of musicin the written sources that show Siljuks courts supported some of theprominent musicians. There are also the treatises which have beenwritten on music during this era; for example, Khayyām’s musictreatise, Muhammad Nishabūrī’s treatise and the Jāmi’ al-Ulūm’ssection on music (chapter 48). On the basis of these sources, the musicof this age is divided into Bazmī (lyrical) and Razmī (epical). Somemusical instruments used in Bazmī music are Rubāb, Chaghāna,Chang (Lyre), Sinj (cymbal), Tanbūr, Ney, Rūd, Barbat ,Ūd (lute),Mizhar and Daf. And the musical instruments played in Razmī musicare Tabl (drum), Kūs, Burw-i Parang and Nafīr that the two last onesare attributed to AlbArsalān. It is supposed that Khurāsān’s 12 notessystem were received to Byzantine and Baghdad by the extension ofdominion of Siljuks from East to West.