Most famous female musicians in the pre-20th-century history of Arab music belong to this category. From pre-Islamic times qaynas were the main providers of entertainment music for wealthy Arabs. Their emergence may relate to court fashions of the buffer kingdoms of al-Hira and Ghassan. By the early Islamic period they had become an indispensable part of court life. Those who had looks to match their musical abilities were highly prized, often becoming the concubines and occasionally the wives of caliphs.
Normally of non-Arab origin (at least in the early period), qaynas sang and played a variety of instruments. Some were attached to taverns, others were owned by wealthy individuals, playing music within the household and even accompanying military expeditions. Prophetic tradition (hadīth) attests that the Prophet Muhammad listened to qaynas singing for his wife ‘A‘isha in his own home.
By at least the 9th century the qayna was a marketable commodity from which considerable profits could be made. Vivid accounts in the Risālat al-qiyān (`Epistle on singing-girls') by the great Baghdadi writer al-Jāhiz (d 868/9) offer some notion of the disruptive passions that such women could provoke (and manipulate) and the lengths to which her admirers were prepared to go. The greatest storehouse of information on the musical and social activities of the qayna is provided by al-Isfahani (897–967) who described the heyday of the Abbasid caliphate in the late 9th and the 10th centuries. Detailed biographies can be constructed for the most celebrated qaynas, such as ‘Arīb, who was fêted by several caliphs.
Qaynas who showed an aptitude would receive a broad education, not only in singing and instrumental performance but also in literature and other essentials of refined culture. The qayna's first teacher (and sometimes owner) would normally be a prominent male musician. Older qaynas could also take on a teaching role, and some established ‘schools’ with considerable numbers of pupils. At one stage in Seville qaynas were able to dominate the market as music teachers.
Information on the activities of qaynas is scantier for later periods. Although the word qayna fades from the scene, there is no indication that the role of the female slave diminished in significance. There are obvious parallels between qaynas and the slave women of the Ottoman harem. Similarities with the institution of the Japanese geisha are also striking. For further details on qaynas in their historical context, see Arab music, §I, 2(i–iii).
See also Courtesan.
A.F.L. Beeston, ed.: The Epistle on Singing-Girls by Jāniz (Warminster, 1980)
M. Stigelbauer: Die Sängerinnen am Abbasidenhof um die Zeit des Kalifen al-Mutawakkil (Vienna, 1975)
OWEN WRIGHT