Chronicles of Songhay Empire's Askyas (Kings) 1493-1599
Timbuktu (Tombouctou, Tin Bukt)
Title
The flautists play while the Askiya holds court
Short description
The Askiya holds court with his intimates while the flautists play in the room.
Text on source
يكون الحاج هو القائم بعده وأمه مِنَ كاي وقيل كان يتكلِّم بكلام الكهنة ويخبر بما هي الغيب ويوافق اكثر اقواله بمقادر الله ومن ذلك انه كان في مجلس قومه وبطانته ودخلائه وغيرهم والزمِّارون يزمرون بين يديه ثم سكت طويلًا ثمِّ تنفس الصعداء ثمِّ قال يدخل علينا الآن رجل من اهل بيتنا وولد ابنينا ولا يسبقه في الدخول علينا احد وهو اشقى اخوتنا [ص. ١٢٠]
English translation
It was al-Ḥājj the heir and his mother was Mina Kaya. He was said to speak the language of the soothsayers, that he gave news from the Beyond and most of his sayings were in agreement with God's decrees. [An example] of that is that one day as he held court, surrounded by his officials, his courtiers, his intimates, and still others, while the flautists [zammārūn] played [yuzammirūn] before him. He remained silent for a long moment and then let out a profound sigh then said: Is now going to enter a man from our house, a son of our father and no one will enter before him and he is the most unhappy of our brothers
Folios/Pages
219
Date
1582 circa
Observations on the events description
The author refers to the player as "zammārūn" (plur.), from the same root of mizmār/mazāmīr, which is any single or double reed wind instrument and can be at times another name for the zurna.
The dots on the map indicate the places where sound and music events were described. They don't represent travel stages.
Participants
Name
Role
Notes
Edit
Delete
al-Ḥājj, Muḥammad
Viewer
Askia (King)
How to quote
Pintimalli A., "The flautists play while the Askiya holds court" (Event description), Echos. Sound Ecosystems in Travelogues. Published 2024 09 09.doi: 10.25430/echos.travels.137
This work is licensed under CC-BY-SA 4.0 
