Zaryab, the Persian musician
The impact of Persian music on other cultures have been discussed on the following article of Maestro Nasrollah Nasehpoor in details:
Impact of Persian music on other cultures and vice versa
In this short note we like to mention of the impact of Persian music on flamenco music. It is famous that the musician, “Zaryab”, Persian style, also spelled as Zyriab, Zorab, Kurdish style, Ziryab, Arabic style (some name him as Abolhasan Ali Ebn Nafe) immigrated to Cordoba in Spain and established a music school and conveyed the music that he learnt from his master, Eshaq Museli. And since the music that his master offered was the music strongly affected by Persian music, we can imagine why we can talk about the impact of Persian music on Flamenco music.
Etymology of Zaryab
Zaryab comes from the combination of the two words “zar” (Persian word, literally means gold) and “yab” (comes from the Persian verb “yaftan”, literally means to find) and therefore “zaryab” literally means gold-finder.
Point: Some believe that he was entitled as ziryab, an Arabic word that is the name of a special bird.
Originality of Zaryab
While some believe that he is African, possibly a Zang of Tanzania, some researchers believe that he is a Persian Kurd.
Zaryab Immigration
It is said that Zaryab immigrated from Baghdad of Iraq to Syria, sometime after the death of Caliph Al-Amin, then to Tunisia and then Andalusia because of the invitation of Hakim, Umayyad prince.
The signs of the impact of Persian music on Flamenco music:
If one listens to Flamenco music can easily feel the similarity of flamenco vocal music with Persian music.
Guitar
Etymology of guitar: the word guitar seems to be the combination of the two words “guit” that may have its origin in the word “sangeet” that in sanskrit it means music and dance and “tar” that means chord and string. Actually many instruments in Persia (Iran) and India and other places related to Persian culture contain the word “tar” such as Persian tar, Persian setar, Persian dotar, Indian sitar, Indian ektar and so on…
The antiquity of these long-necked instruments goes back to at least 2000-1500 BC, the shape of these instruments found in some statues found in Susa of Iran, kept in National Museum of Iran.
The structure of guitar is quite similar to Persian tar and the big hole on the sound-box of the guitar shows the influence of ud (or barbat). Therefore one may consider guitar as the fusion of the two instruments ud and tar.
Article by Peyman Nasehpour
