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On The Methodology of the Investigation:

Author:                   City : Baku   Country : Azerbaijan
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Detailed and creative analysis of Safiuddins books is a distinctive feature of treatises of direct followers of Safiuddin Urmavi.

2) Coming to the indirect influences of Urmavis theory we should mention the Turkic “Advar”s of 15th century. Unfortunately, too many erroneous judgments were made throughout the contemporary work on these treatises. The mention of the name of Safiuddin in these manuscripts is misinterpreted as his direct influence on “Advar”s theories. In spite of some similarities in appearance (number of maqams, circular schemes, etc.) between the work of Urmavi and “Advar”s, the latter represent a very different kind of musical science.

A smaller number of mathematical calculations in comparison to the classical way, themes that seem simple at first glance, the smooth character of statements, the verses, stories and legends in the texts, create a deceptive impression of simplicity in the text. However, the absence of alphanumeric marking (abjed) of intervals and pitches makes it difficult to achieve one of the main objectives of studying medieval treatises – decoding of the scale of musical pieces of that period. The verbal description of a melodious movement does not give an authentic view of the musical composition. Moreover, in that period, the same maqam could be named and performed differently, depending on the place and the musician.

At the same time Turkic “Advar”s can be divided into two types. a) One of those types is the “Advar”s in which the Urmavis theory is presented in separate section and this information does not influence the next part of the treatise. The works of Ahmedoglu Shukrullah, Ladiki (all of them lived in 15th century) are the examples of this type. Here, the section devoted to the classical theory, which was accordingly named by those scholars as “old” (qadim), was precisely differentiated from their contemporary (djadid) theory. The Turkish translation by Ahmedoglu Shukrullah of Urmavis book “Kitabul-Advar” was a significant event in the musical science of the 15th century. This work also contained a translation of an extract from a book of Kashani “Kanz at-Tuhaf”, as well as a fragment concerning the musical practice of the named period, the author of which probably was Ahmedoglu Shukrullah himself. This last part noticeably differs from previous parts by the type of the stated material and represents a typical sample of a postclassical trend of the musical theory. The first part of work of Ladiki “Fethiyye” (in Arabic) also shows an earnest and attentive attitude to the classic theory of Urmavi. But as in the treatise of Shukrullah, in the following parts of Ladikis works, which are devoted to the maqam system of the 15th century, the direct influence of the theory of Safiuddin can not be observed. The reason for this was not the distance in time between their lives. The mixing of theories was impossible because of the opposed philosophical views of Urmavi and the authors of “Advar”s and because of the difference of musical-theoretical trends of their works. (“Zeynul –elhan” of Ladiki takes special place in the theory of music).

b) In the “Advar”s of the other type (Kirshehri, Seydi, many anonymous risale, etc.) there is no separate section dedicated to the theory of Safiuddin. In these treatises, the information on the classical theory is either dispersed in the text or is missing. Although the name of Urmavi was mentioned in these works rather frequently and respectfully, his theory remained isolated in the musical and theoretical plans. The reputation of Urmavi caused his name to be used like an authoritative symbol of a scholar-musician (as well as the frequently mentioned name of Farabi), confirming necessity and permissibility of studying of musical art. As a rule, on the first pages of the treatises a legend, in which Urmavi takes a major part, about the influence of music on people and animals (camel, nightingale) is told and confirms that being busy with music is a honorable (sherif) affair (Fig. 3).

It should be noted that in "Advar" treatises the information on Farabi (9-10century), Ibn Sina (11 century) and Urmavi (13 century) has lots of inexactitudes and anachronisms. (Something similar also occurs in the some of Iranian and Central Asian treatises of 16-17 centuries). For example, in many of these treatises there is mention of the debates between these three scientists, though they lived hundreds of years apart. In these works it talks about “the meeting of pupils of Urmavi with Ibn Sina (?!), which happened in Egypt” (Kirshehri: f.24b; Hizir bin Abdullah: f.79b; Anonymous 1799: f.12b). In these sources it is also alleged that the invention of the maqam theory (12 maqam, 6/7 avaze, systems of shubes and terkibs) belongs to Farabi. The “Advar” author of 19 century Hashimi attributed it to Pythagoras (?), Tusi and Ibn Sina (Hashimi: 44).

These and many similar fragments, related to Farabi, Ibn Sina and Urmavi, confirm that some of the “Advar” authors not only had not read their books but also were not acquainted with the treatises of Ladiki and with the translation Urmavis work to Turkic by Shukrullah.


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