ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the function of waṣf by dealing with the relation between verbal art and the musical art of gesture and singing in a medieval Arabic qaṣidah or ode from the ninth century A.D., which describes a singing slave-girl. It focuses on George Sawa's study of the theory and practice of musical performance in the classical Middle East. The chapter focuses on singing slave-girls by al-Jaḥiẓ, one of the most prominent classical Arab litterateurs. On the stage, the slave-girl sings before the audience, and the poet is not only one of them but also an observer of the whole drama. The poet combines the ṭarab effect of the song and the performance context for the purpose of con-. veying to us the audience's affective response. "Kitab al-qiyan", of Abu ʿUthman ʿAmr ibn Baḥr al-Jaḥiẓ, one of the great masters of classical Arabic prose, offers us some brilliant insights concerning certain circumstances of singing slave-girls in the ?Abbasid era.
