Zalzal

Mansūr Zalzal, known as al-Dārib ("the performer"), was an Arab musician of the early Abbasid period, whose death is placed after 842. His fame rests chiefly on his instrumental skill.

According to some accounts, Ishāq al-Mawsilī asserted that no one matched his technique on the lute, and the 'Iqd al-farīd described him as the most pleasing of all string instrumentalists. He is credited with inventing the "perfect" lute, ʿūd al-shabbūt, which replaced the Persian one; its shape is said to have resembled that of the Portuguese machete.

His name is associated above all with the neutral third fret (wustā Zalzal), placed between the major and minor third frets. This innovation was the first to recognise neutral intervals, which remain characteristic of Arab and Persian music.