Allawayh al-Asar () (or Alluya; flourished ) was a singer of

Sogdia Sogdia () or Sogdiana was an ancient Iranian peoples, Iranian civilization between the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya, and in present-day Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. Sogdiana was also a province of the Achaemen ...

n origin at the

Abbasid The Abbasid Caliphate or Abbasid Empire (; ) was the third caliphate to succeed the prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib (566–653 C ...

court of

Harun al-Rashid Abū Jaʿfar Hārūn ibn Muḥammad ar-Rāshīd (), or simply Hārūn ibn al-Mahdī (; or 766 – 24 March 809), famously known as Hārūn al-Rāshīd (), was the fifth Abbasid caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate, reigning from September 786 unti ...

and his successors. His grandfather, a captive from Sogdia, was a "freedman" (''

mawla ''Mawlā'' (, plural ''mawālī'' ), is a polysemous Arabic word, whose meaning varied in different periods and contexts.A.J. Wensinck, Encyclopedia of Islam 2nd ed, Brill. "Mawlā", vol. 6, p. 874. Before the Islamic prophet Muhammad, the te ...

'') in

Umayyad The Umayyad Caliphate or Umayyad Empire (, ; ) was the second caliphate established after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty. Uthman ibn Affan, the third of the Rashidun caliphs, was also a membe ...

times. Allawayh al-Asar was a student of

Ibrahim al-Mawsili Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm al-Mawṣilī (; 742–804) was an Arab musician of Persian origin who was among the greatest composers of the early Abbasid period. After Arab and Persian musical training in Ray, he was called to the Abbasid capital o ...

; in contemporaneous sources, he,

Ishaq al-Mawsili Ishaq al-Mawsili (; 767/772 – March 850) was an Arab musician of Persian origin active as a composer, singer and music theorist. The leading musician of his time in the Abbasid Caliphate, he served under six successive Abbasid caliphs: Haru ...

(son of Ibrahim al-Mawsili) and

Mukhariq Abu’l-Muhannāʾ Mukhāriq ibn Yaḥyā ibn Nāwūs () (), was one of the most distinguished singers of the Abbasid period, and a protege of the Barmakids and the caliphs from Harun al-Rashid to al-Wathiq. Life He was born in Madma (althou ...

were often mentioned together. Allawayh was fond of the style introduced by

Ibrahim ibn al-Mahdi Ibrāhīm ibn al-Mahdī (; 779–839) was an Abbasid prince, singer, composer and poet. He was the son of the third Abbasid caliph, al-Mahdi, and the half-brother of the poet and musician Ulayya. Ibrahim was contemporary of Abbasid caliph al-Ha ...

, and, according to

D. M. Dunlop Douglas Morton Dunlop (1909–1987) was a renowned British oriental studies, orientalist and scholar of Islamic and Eurasian history. Early life and education Born in England, Dunlop studied at Bonn and Oxford under the historian Paul E. Kahle, P ...

: "Perhaps we are to see in his introduction of Persian elements into the old Arabic music some indication of national preference". However, by the following century, according to the ''

Kitab al-Aghani ''Kitāb al-Aghānī'' (), is an encyclopedic collection of poems and songs that runs to over 20 volumes in modern editions, attributed to the 10th-century Arabic writer Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani, Abū al-Farāj al-Isfahānī (also known as al-Is ...

'', the so-called "traditionalist views" of Ishaq al-Mawsili "held the field". Despite his initial allegiance to Ishaq's conservative musical traditions, Allawayh eventually joined the progressive musical faction of Ibrahim ibn al-Mahdi.

References

Sources

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External links

* * {{Medieval Perso-Arab music 850s deaths Sogdian people 9th-century people from the Abbasid Caliphate Courtiers from the Abbasid Caliphate Singers of the medieval Islamic world 9th-century Iranian people 9th-century musicians Year of birth uncertain Musicians from the Abbasid Caliphate Slaves in the Abbasid Caliphate 9th-century slaves