Rast Müzikoloji Dergisi

Yazarlar: E. K. (Çev. Ahmet Hakkı Turabi Erhan Özd Rowson

Konular:-

DOI:10.12975/rastmd.2014.02.01.00032

Anahtar Kelimeler:Effemine,Music,Singer

Özet: There is considerable evidence for the existence of a form of publicly recognized andinstitutionalized effeminacy or transvestism among males in pre-Islamic and early IslamicArabian society. Unlike other men, these effeminates or mukhannarhiin were permitted toassociate freely with women, on the assumption that they had no sexual interest in them, ando ften acted as marriage brokers, or, less legitimately, as go-betweens. They also played animportant role in the development of Arabic music in Umayyad Mecca and, especially,Medina, where they were numbered among the most celebrated singers and instrumentalists.Although they were subject to periodic persecution by the state, such measures were notbased on any conclusions about their own sexual status-they were not assumed to behomosexual, although a few were-but on their activities as musicians and go-betweens,which were seen as corrupting the morals of society and especially of women. A particularlysevere repression under the caliph Sulayman put an end to the mukhannarhiin's prominencein music and society, although not to their existence

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