ABSTRACT
The examination in the previous chapter of a small specimen of Aghānī articles established that although they differ in subject-matter, period and organisation of their material, they all display one or more of a limited number of focusses of interest. The five focusses identified are factual information about people and events, the circumstances and creative process behind a given poem or song setting, the poem’s or song’s life, aspects of the poet’s or composer’s art, and wider issues of an artistic, ethical, moral or other nature arising from the akhbār and poetry quoted. The discussion of the articles on people, by far the largest category of articles in the Aghānī, takes this finding about focusses as its starting point.
