Notes on Moors, Music, and History

Cathedrals and Illiteracy

The cathedrals in England were built around a time when illiteracy was high in Europe.
This high illiteracy rate was due to a primary focus on survival, which left little practical reason for people to read outside of religious figures like monks.

The Moors introduced universities to Europe, establishing the first university in Southern Europe.
They created the education system and brought what became classical architecture and finery.
Teachers in the Moorish paradigm earned the equivalent of 40,000 a year, indicating the advanced nature of their system.
Europeans would send their best scholars to learn in Moorish Spain, similar to how they sent them to Timbuktu or Luxor to study high sciences.

The Moors brought the first music conservatory to Valencia, Spain.
Ziriab introduced the lute (l.o.u.d.), a chordophone with four cords, to Spain.
Africans used the lute to heal clogged liquid systems in the body, including mucus, hormones, phlegm, and blood.
The vibration from strumming the lute would open up these blockages.
Ziriab added a fifth string to the lute, representing plasma, the invisible liquid believed to be the origin of the universe, enhancing its healing capabilities.

The piano is essentially a harp turned sideways.
The concept evolved from strumming strings to encasing them in wood and hitting keys, creating a different sound.
Baroque music, often credited to Bach, originated in Africa.
African finger pianos (xylophones) were adapted into the modern piano.
Classical music has roots in African musical traditions.

Blackamore jewelry, featuring depictions of black people in gold and diamonds, is popular among wealthy Europeans.

The end of Moorish conquering in Europe led to the rise of bullfighting.
The matador in the "suit of lights" symbolizes the defeat of the black Moor, representing the African.
The running of the bulls is also seen as a reenactment of the conflict between whites and the Moors.

Toy monkeys with cymbals or drums, often dressed in vests and fezzes or turbans, subtly reference the Moors.
The association of black people with monkeys is a way of insulting their origins and heritage.

The lack of understanding of Native American and African history stems from a focus on the 13 colonies in American textbooks.
To study indigenous peoples, one must focus on the Mississippi River, just as the Nile (or Happy) River is essential to understanding African history.

Columbus (Cristobal Colon) was a Sephardic Jew from Spain involved in the enslavement trade with the Portuguese in the 1400s.
He traveled to West Africa and learned from the Moors about a faster route to America via the River Jordan current.
Africans were already traveling to America before Columbus.
Columbus primarily traveled to South America and his son’s records indicate that he saw the same people in America as he saw in Africa, who were Moors.

Pedro Alonso Nino, a Moor, was one of the chief navigators with Columbus.
Many believe that Columbus would not have found America without the Moors on his ships because he needed their expertise and knowledge.
Estebanico, an African, befriended indigenous people in what is now Florida and Arizona, acting as a healer.
Africans engaged in cultural and economic trade with America long before Columbus.

The Piraeus map, found by a Turkish explorer, included longitude and latitude and comprised of ancient maps from Arabia and Egypt.
These maps showed the North and South American continents before European discovery.