Dananir al Barmakiyya explained

Dananir al Barmakiyya
دنانير البرمكية
Death Date:c. 810s
Death Place:Baghdad
Resting Place:Baghdad
Occupation:Arabic Poet and Singer
Language:Arabic
Nationality:Caliphate
Period:Islamic Golden Age
(Abbasid era)

Dananir al Barmakiyya (late 8th-century - early 9th-century) was an Arabian Qiyan musician, singer and poet. She is also known as the author of the famous Book of Songs.[1]

She was from Medina. She was sold to Yahya ibn Khalid al-Barmaki.[2]

As a slave, she was trained to become a qiyan. She was a student of the qiyan-musician Badhl, who was known for the number of songs she retained in her memory.[3] Among her instructors were Ishaf al-Mausuli, Ibn Jami and Fulaih.

Dananir is noted as one of the most famous quian-musicians. She is described as an accomplished poet, musician and singer. As a singer, she was popular with the Abbasid Caliph Harun al-Rashid (r. 786–809), who visited his minister's house in Baghdad to hear her perform, and gave her extravagant gifts, including a necklace worth 30,000 gold coins.

She is most known as the author of the famous Book of Songs.

Notes and References

  1. Music in the World of Islam: A Socio-cultural Study
  2. Hilary Kilpatrick: Making the Great Book of Songs: Compilation and the Author's Craft in Abū L
  3. Music in the World of Islam: A Socio-cultural Study