Encounters between Jewish and Muslim Musicians throughout the Ages r 275Al-Mansūr al-Yahūdī
From the period of crystallization of the Andalusian musical style, we
have an account of the first eminent Jewish musician mentioned in the
records: al-Mansūr al-Yahūdī, who was connected to the court of the
Umayyad caliph al-Hakam at Cordoba. The Arab author and biographer
al-Maqqarī (1591–1632) reports in the book Nafh al-tīb that the Jewish al-
Mansūr was delegated in 822 by his patron, al-Hakam, to meet Ziryāb, the
leading Baghdadi musician at the court of Hārūn al-Rashīd in Kairawan.
In al-Maqqarī’s lengthy tale, Ziryāb is described as a highly gifted and
inspired innovator. After al-Hakam’s demise, Al-Mansūr was to persuade
him to offer his services to the new caliph, ̔Abd al-Rahmān, in Cordoba.
Thus al-Mansūr helped bring about the splendid era of Arab music in
Spain inaugurated by Ziryāb. It is assumed that al-Mansūr continued his
musical activity together with Ziryāb.^9
Isaac ben Shime ̔on al-Yahūdī
In the first half of the twelfth century in Cordoba lived another Jewish
musician, Isaac ben Shime ̔on al-Yahūdī.
The Arab historian and literateur ibn Sa ̔īd al-Maghribī lists him in
his extensive work, al-Mughrib fī hula al-Maghrib,^10 among the most il-
lustrious and learned Cordovan music masters. Isaac ben Shime ̔on is
described as “one of the wonders of his time in his outstanding musical
mastership both as singer and instrumentalist.” Al-Maghribī adds that he
was a follower (perhaps a disciple) of the famous philosopher and musi-
cian ibn Bājja, known in the West as Avempace (d. 1139), who was consid-
ered a moving force in the establishment of the Andalusian style and as a
music theorist who was compared to the famous philosopher and music
theorist al-Fārābī (d. 950), according to the Tunisian author Ahmad al-
Tīfāshī (1184–1253).^11
Dhay al-Isrā’īlī
The Berber faction Dhū an-Nūnids, one of the numerous party kings
known as mulūk al-Tawā ̔if , who appeared in Spain in the eleventh century,