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# Ziryab (Blackbird) ## Musician's Biography - Ali Ibn Nafi (Ziryab) * **c. 789:** Born possibly in Tanzania or Baghdad. Trained in music from a young age. * **c. 813:** Left Baghdad and traveled to Islamic courts in al-Sham (Syria and the Levant), and then Ifriqiyya (Tunisia). * **822:** Settled...

# Ziryab (Blackbird) ## Musician's Biography - Ali Ibn Nafi (Ziryab) * **c. 789:** Born possibly in Tanzania or Baghdad. Trained in music from a young age. * **c. 813:** Left Baghdad and traveled to Islamic courts in al-Sham (Syria and the Levant), and then Ifriqiyya (Tunisia). * **822:** Settled in Córdoba, southern Spain, and became court musician for Abd ar-Rabman II. * **857:** Died in Córdoba. ## Ziryab's Influence * **Music:** Ziryab (meaning "blackbird") was a 9th-century Persian court musician with an amazing voice. * He was a composer of Arab chants known as *moaxaja*. * He introduced Islamic instruments, songs, and dances to Europe. His style mixed with Spanish Gypsy music giving rise to the Spanish guitar and Flamenco dance style. * He created and developed new and experimental musical sounds * He established music colleges. taught both men and women. * He significantly influenced music of traveling and court musicians known as minstrels and troubadours. * **Food:** Introduced new recipes from Baghdad, using tablecloths and glassware. Established three-course meals (soup, main course, dessert), becoming the banqueting style across Europe. * **Fashion:** Introduced new clothing styles, shorter hairstyles, and suggested that people wore different clothes for different seasons (winter clothes, summer clothes). He introduced bleached white clothing. * **Hygiene:** Invented one of the first pleasant-tasting toothpastes, a new underarm deodorant, and shaving for men. Also introduced perfumes, cosmetics. and hair conditioner.