03-02-2018, 01:11 PM
(This post was last modified: 04-10-2019, 03:57 PM by Dekalb_Blues.)
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Qiyan is the plural of Qaynah: a slave woman who masters a job. Qiyan is an Arabic term denoting the cultured
slave-women of varying ethnic backgrounds who had been trained as singers/dancers/musicians/poets to entertain and
entrance caliphs and other high officials at the Muslim courts in former times. These women, highly prized for their arts,
served in this role in ancient Arabia and in the medieval Península Ibérica (España and Portugal, Al Andalus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Andalus )
and were responsible for performing and spreading the works of the composers of the period. As the Christian warlords
conquered more and more of the Muslim territories in Spain, i.e. al-Andalus/Sepharad, qiyan were captured and taken
back to the courts of Europe as booty.
"The first troubadour", William of Aquitaine (969 - 1030), grew up among qiyan and was surely influenced by them.
The troubadour movement which started in Provence contributed to spreading their influence to the rest of Europe, as
these travelling musicians moved from court to court.
The kind of love-&-longing songs heard here were sung variously in Old Spanish, Hebrew, Ladino, Arabic, and other
languages, reflecting the eclectic cosmopolitan cultural mix in a civilization whose Sufi-influenced authorities not only
allowed but positively protected the observation of religious belief systems (Christian, Jewish, and Muslim, predominantly,
though others of even pagan nature were allowed to carry on if evidencing no evil intent) in an enlightened way that
promoted a form of amicable coexistence that has not since been seen on our increasingly societally-fragmented and
"triggerized"/polarized planet. For some lyrics, see http://www.qiyanskrets.se/lyrics.htm .
E.g., (at 26:33) "Mi Yitneni Of" ("That I Had Wings", a traditional Sephardic Jewish song):
Mi yitneni of tzi por kanaf k'tana! That I had wings like those of a little bird!
Habindude en sof nafshi ma mitana, I wander endlessly to find shelter for my soul,
Ah, bindud en sof nafshi ma mita! Oh, I wander endlessly to find shelter for my soul!
The Drum of the Realization
The drum of the realization of the promise is beating;
we are sweeping the road to the sky.
Your joy is here today --
what remains for tomorrow?
The armies of the day have chased the army of the night,
Heaven and earth are filled with purity and light.
Oh! joy for he who has escaped from this world
of perfumes and color!
For beyond these colours and these perfumes,
there are other colors in the heart and the soul.
Oh! joy for this soul and this heart who have escaped
the earth of water and clay,
Although this water and this clay
contain the hearth of the philosophical stone.
Drumsound rises on the air,
its throb, my heart.
A voice inside the beat says,
"I know you're tired, but come. This is the Way."
Jelaluddin Rumi
Qiyan is the plural of Qaynah: a slave woman who masters a job. Qiyan is an Arabic term denoting the cultured
slave-women of varying ethnic backgrounds who had been trained as singers/dancers/musicians/poets to entertain and
entrance caliphs and other high officials at the Muslim courts in former times. These women, highly prized for their arts,
served in this role in ancient Arabia and in the medieval Península Ibérica (España and Portugal, Al Andalus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Andalus )
and were responsible for performing and spreading the works of the composers of the period. As the Christian warlords
conquered more and more of the Muslim territories in Spain, i.e. al-Andalus/Sepharad, qiyan were captured and taken
back to the courts of Europe as booty.
"The first troubadour", William of Aquitaine (969 - 1030), grew up among qiyan and was surely influenced by them.
The troubadour movement which started in Provence contributed to spreading their influence to the rest of Europe, as
these travelling musicians moved from court to court.
The kind of love-&-longing songs heard here were sung variously in Old Spanish, Hebrew, Ladino, Arabic, and other
languages, reflecting the eclectic cosmopolitan cultural mix in a civilization whose Sufi-influenced authorities not only
allowed but positively protected the observation of religious belief systems (Christian, Jewish, and Muslim, predominantly,
though others of even pagan nature were allowed to carry on if evidencing no evil intent) in an enlightened way that
promoted a form of amicable coexistence that has not since been seen on our increasingly societally-fragmented and
"triggerized"/polarized planet. For some lyrics, see http://www.qiyanskrets.se/lyrics.htm .
E.g., (at 26:33) "Mi Yitneni Of" ("That I Had Wings", a traditional Sephardic Jewish song):
Mi yitneni of tzi por kanaf k'tana! That I had wings like those of a little bird!
Habindude en sof nafshi ma mitana, I wander endlessly to find shelter for my soul,
Ah, bindud en sof nafshi ma mita! Oh, I wander endlessly to find shelter for my soul!
The Drum of the Realization
The drum of the realization of the promise is beating;
we are sweeping the road to the sky.
Your joy is here today --
what remains for tomorrow?
The armies of the day have chased the army of the night,
Heaven and earth are filled with purity and light.
Oh! joy for he who has escaped from this world
of perfumes and color!
For beyond these colours and these perfumes,
there are other colors in the heart and the soul.
Oh! joy for this soul and this heart who have escaped
the earth of water and clay,
Although this water and this clay
contain the hearth of the philosophical stone.
Drumsound rises on the air,
its throb, my heart.
A voice inside the beat says,
"I know you're tired, but come. This is the Way."
Jelaluddin Rumi