ULAYYA
> SONGSTRESS
ULAYYA 8th-century Arabian songstress. She was the daughter of Maknuna (q.v.), a slave songstress whom al-Mahdi bought for 100,000 dirhem and Caliph al-Mahdi (775 to 785) and half-sister of the later Caliph Harun al-Rashid and Ibrahim ibn al-Mahdi. The latter was a talented musician who became leader of the Persian romantic music movement in opposition to the classical conservative school of Ibrahim and Ishaq al-Mausuli. Harun took great interest in the musical education of his younger…