[Andalusi Studies] Trumpets used as "call to prayer"?

[Dwight Reynolds]

I am currently in Barcelona gathering material about "Moorish" and  
Jewish musicians in Aragon and Catalonia in the medieval period.

In an article about musicians hired by the Municipality of Lérida I  
found the passage below that is (for me at least) surprising:

    "En el año 1356, Pedro IV defiende el canto y música de los moros  
y sarracenos, que llaman a sus fieles a los templos con el sonido de  
trompetas y añafiles, en lugar de las campanas por los cristianos."

Unfortunately the author does not give a citation, so I cannot give  
you the original Catalan, though I hope to track it down eventually.

Is this simply a fanciful (and incorrect) idea of King Pedro of  
Aragon's? Or does anyone know of other references to Muslims in Spain  
(or elsewhere) using trumpets to announce prayer times or to call  
people to mosques?

Or can someone possibly offer another interpretation of this passage?

This is connected to the Municipality of Lérida's hiring of a Moorish  
trumpeter named Ali Exadit [al-Shadîd??] on a one-year contract with a  
salary of 100 valencian (jaques) solidos and six "alnes" of  
"campredón" cloth in the year 1400.

The same trumpeter pops up again in the financial registers in the  
year 1410 with a slightly higher salary and seven lengths of the same  
cloth once he has sworn to serve the city faithfully [E lo dit Ali  
Exadit promes servir be e lealment la ciutat].


Many thanks,
Dwight



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Dwight F. Reynolds, Professor            Arabic Language & Lit
Department of Religious Studies          Phone: (805) 893-7143
University of California                 Dept:  (805) 893-2993
Santa Barbara, CA 93106                  FAX:   (805) 893-7671
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