Barbad

Did You Know?

• Barbad's name appears in various spellings in posthumous sources, including Fahl(a)bad, Bahl(a)bad, and Bahr(a)bad.
• A Sasanian seal includes the name Pahrbad/Pahlbad, which some scholars connect to Barbad.

Background

The music of Iran stretches back to at least depictions of arched harps from 3300–3100 BCE, but substantial information only becomes available during the Sasanian Empire (224–651 CE). This period saw a prominent musical culture, especially in areas dominated by Zoroastrianism. Many Sasanian Shahanshahs supported music, including Ardashir I and Bahram V, but Khosrow II was the most outstanding patron, his reign regarded as a golden age of Persian music.

Musicians in his service included Āzādvar-e Changi, Bāmshād, the harpist Nagisa, Ramtin, Sarkash, and Barbad, who was by far the most famous. These musicians were typically minstrels, acting as both court poets and musicians, as there was little distinction between poetry and music in the Sasanian Empire. Although many Middle Persian texts survive, only one—Khusraw qubadan va ridak—includes commentary on music, and neither it nor any other Sasanian source discusses Barbad.

His reputation must have been transmitted through oral tradition until the earliest source: an Arabic poem by Khaled ibn Fayyaz. In later Arabic and Persian sources, Barbad is the most discussed Sasanian musician, though rarely in writings dedicated solely to music. Ancient sources give little biographical information, and most is shrouded in mythological anecdotes, with Ferdowsi's Shahnameh containing the most celebrated accounts.

Life and career

There are contradictory accounts of Barbad's birthplace: older sources record Merv in northeastern Khorasan, while later works give Jahrom, a small city south of Shiraz in Pars. Tafazzoli suggested that writers recording Jahrom were referencing a line in Ferdowsi's Shahnameh stating Barbad traveled from Jarom to Ctesiphon when Khosrow was murdered. Ferdowsi and al-Tha'alibi both relay a story that Barbad, a gifted young musician, sought a place as court minstrel under Khosrow II but was prevented by the jealous chief court minstrel Sarkash.

Barbad then hid in the royal garden dressed in all green. When Khosrow walked by, Barbad sang three songs with his lute: Dād-āfrīd, Peykār-e gord, and Sabz dar sabz. Khosrow was immediately impressed and appointed Barbad chief minstrel, a position known as shah-i ramishgaran. In Nizami's Khosrow and Shirin, Khosrow II is said to have had a dream where his grandfather Khosrow I prophesied he would have a minstrel called Barbad whose art could make even poison taste delicious.

Barbad became Khosrow's favorite musician, and other court members would seek his help mediating conflicts with the Shahanshah. A story in Nizami's work tells of Khosrow and Shirin being forced apart, then reconciled when Nagisa sang of Shirin's love and Barbad sang of Khosrow's love, a duet recorded in 263 couplets. According to Ibn al-Faqih, Shirin asked Barbad to remind Khosrow of a promise to build her a castle; he sang a song and was rewarded with an estate near Isfahan. According to Nizam al-Mulk, Barbad visited an imprisoned courtier and resolved the situation with a witty remark.

Music and poetry

Barbad was a musician-poet, lutenist, music theorist, and composer whose works included panegyrics, elegies, and verses. He performed these at Nowruz and Mehregan festivals, state banquets, and victory celebrations. Though none of his compositions survive, the titles of some remain, indicating a broad range of subjects. The ethnomusicologist Hormoz Farhat has grouped them into epic forms based on historical events, songs tied to the Sasanian royal court, and descriptive pieces.

According to Ibn al-Faqih and Yaqut al-Hamawi, Barbad wrote Bag-e nakjiran for laborers who had completed the gardens of Qasr-e Shirin. One poem by Barbad survives, quoted in Ibn Khordadbeh's Kitab al-lahw wa al-malahi. It is a three-hemistich panegyric in Middle Persian written in Arabic script; its music is lost. In 1936, Christensen proposed that the text Khvarshēdh ī rōshan came from a poem by Barbad or a contemporary musician-poet.

This text appears in Manichaean manuscripts from Turpan, China, written in Middle Persian, and its title recalls the Sasanian melody Arāyishn ī khvarshēdh.

Reputation

Barbad played a four-stringed lute called the barbat, which was widely used during his lifetime but later replaced by the oud. Although the instrument itself vanished, the word barbat lived on in classical Persian poetry, evoking the golden age of Persian music and figures like Barbad. Later writers often praised him, and some called him the founder of Persian music. He is considered the most important musician of his era and a key figure in Iranian music history. The many stories told about him long after his death show his lasting fame. Today, Barbad is still celebrated in Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan. In 1989 and 1990, Tajikistan’s government promoted pride in his achievements as part of a broader effort to claim pre-Islamic Iranian civilization as Tajik heritage. Dushanbe’s largest concert hall, Kokhi Borbad, is named after him.