Database: Qiyan (Singing Girls)
A distinct class of women in Abbasid society were the qiyan. Often brought to the caliphal court from distant reaches of the empire and beyond, these women were highly educated and trained entertainers whose proximity to the caliphs could lead to powerful positions. As a special type of enslaved women, the qiyan tended to be much more expensive and to have a higher social status than regular concubines who did not have training as poets and entertainers.
Most qiyan were brought as girls or teenagers into rich households or special singing schools. Many would have served in other elite households before joining that of the caliph. They would have been tutored extensively in dancing, music composition and performance, poetry, and calligraphy by renowned masters as well as by former qiyan. These years of training made them some of the leading poets and performers of their time and a significant proportion of medieval Arabic female poets whose work survives today were qiyan. Amongst them, the most famous was Arib Al-Ma'muniyya (797-890) whose skills made her rich, influential, and eventually free through a career spanning the courts of five caliphs.