Qiyan, comprising well-known figures from the Hungarian jazz and free music scene, draws from the traditional music of Jewish slave women who lived in the Caliphate of Córdoba. The band’s leader and founder is Péter Ajtai (AMP, Baló Project, Geröly Trio, Mingus! Mingus! Mingus!), who recorded his first album under his own name with this group. Their untitled debut album was released in 2020, followed the next year by Man is a Dream About a Shadow, which also shows the influence of traditions from the Carpathian Basin.

In classical Arabic terminology, the term qiyan referred to female slaves who had to entertain their captors with their singing, instrumental music and charms. These slaves, who lived in the Caliphate of Córdoba and were mostly Jewish, were, like geisha, highly skilled in music, poetry and the arts in general; consequently, they constituted the highest class of slaves in pre-modern Islamic society. A significant proportion of medieval Arab female poets also came from their ranks. From the repertoire of the qiyan trained in Medina, Baghdad or Córdoba, a distinct musical tradition developed in Al-Andalus, which survived even after the abolition of slavery. The region experienced its golden age under the Caliphate of Córdoba (929–1031), when both the economy and culture flourished. Religious tolerance was generally characteristic of the Caliphate of Córdoba; this extended to the Jewish faith, and many Christians even converted to Islam. 

Photo: Márton Ádám Demeter