Manṣūr Zalzal al-Ḍārib (منصور زلزل; died after 842 CE) or simply Zalzal, was an Iranian musician during the early

Abbasid period The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...

. The renowned musician

Ishaq al-Mawsili Ishaq al-Mawsili ( ar, إسحاق الموصلي; 767/772 – March 850) was an Arab musician of Persian origin active as a composer, singer, music theorist and writer on music. The leading musician of his time in the Abbasid Caliphate, he served ...

was his student; he declared Zalzal to be the most outstanding lutenist of his time. He contributed musical scales that were later named after him (the Mansouri scale,

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

, المقياس المنصوري) and introduced positions (intervals) within scales on the

fretboard The fingerboard (also known as a fretboard on fretted instruments) is an important component of most stringed instrument String instruments, stringed instruments, or chordophones are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating s ...

of an oud (neutral 3rd frets, between major 3rd frets and minor third frets), called ''wasati-zalzal''. Mansour is credited by the Encyclopedia of Islam with making improvements on the design of the barbat lute, which was then called the ūd shabbūt.

References

Arabic-language singers Year of death unknown Year of birth unknown Musicians from the Abbasid Caliphate {{Iraq-bio-stub