(fl ?late 10th century/early 11th century). Arab theorist. From the evidence of the one of his two treatises on music to have survived, the Kamāl adab al-ghinā' (‘Perfection of musical knowledge’), he would appear to have been born in the 10th century. He may have been active in northern Mesopotamia, but nothing is known about his life. His professional title al-Kātib (chancery secretary) suggests that he was a man of wide culture and accomplishments, but he remained sufficiently inconspicuous to be overlooked by standard bio-bibliographical sources.
The Kamāl adab al-ghinā’ draws upon the existing philosophical tradition, with material from al-Kindī and al-Sarakhsī, a pupil of al-Kindī whose works have not survived, and above all quoting extensively from al-Fārābī. Its major contribution is, however, less on the analytical or speculative side than on the descriptive, and it pays particular attention to vocal characteristics and the qualities required in a singer. It touches on vocal training and care of the voice, audience response, aspects of composition and the aesthetic dimensions of text-setting, and it also provides lists of the technical terms used by musicians for vocal and instrumental techniques.
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Kamāl adab al-ghinā’ [Perfection of musical knowledge]; Fr. trans. as La perfection des connaissances, A. Shiloah (Paris, 1972); ed. Z. Yūsuf in al-Mawrid, ii/2 (1973), 101–54; ed. G. Khashaba (Cairo, 1975) |
A. Shiloah: Caractéristiques de l'art vocal arabe au Moyen Âge (Tel Aviv, 1963)
E. Neubauer: ‘Die acht “Wege” der Musiklehre und der Oktoechos’, Zeitschrift für Geschichte der arabisch-islamischen Wissenschaften, ix (1994), 373–414
F. Shehadi: Philosophies of Music in Medieval Islam (Leiden, 1995)
OWEN WRIGHT