Ziryab

Abu l-Hasan ‘Ali Ibn Nafi‘ (789-857), (Arabic: أبو الحسن علي ابن نافع) was an Arab, Black African, Kurdish, or Persian polymath: a poet, musician, singer, chemist, cosmetologist, fashion designer, trendsetter, strategist, astronomer, botanist and geographer. His nickname Ziryab means black bird in Arabic, gold-hunter or gold-digger in Persian and he is also known as Pájaro Negro (blackbird) in Spanish. He was active at the Umayyad court of Córdoba in Islamic Iberia. He first achieved notoriety at the Abbasid court in Baghdad, Iraq, his birthplace, as a performer and student of the great Kurdish musician and composer, Ishaq al-Mawsili.