Although he is traditionally credited with numerous innovations in Persian music theory and practice, the attributions remain tentative since they are ascribed centuries after his death.

No Sasanian sources discuss Barbad, suggesting his reputation was preserved through oral tradition, until at least the earliest written account by the poet Khaled ibn Fayyaz (d. c. 718).

Often described as the "founder of Persian music", Barbad remains a celebrated figure in modern-day Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan.

[3] However, the German orientalist Theodor Nöldeke suggested that spellings from Arabic commentators such as "Fahl(a)bad" were really an arabicization of his actual name, probably Pahrbad/Pahlbad.

[3] The music of Iran/Persia stretches to at least the depictions of arched harps from 3300–3100 BCE,[4] though not until the period of the Sasanian Empire in 224–651 CE is substantial information available.

[5] Musicians in Khosrow's service include Āzādvar-e Changi,[n 2] Bāmshād, the harpist Nagisa (Nakisa), Ramtin, Sarkash (also Sargis or Sarkas)[n 3] and Barbad,[9] who was by-far the most famous.

[12] Barbad's reputation must have been transmitted through oral tradition,[13] until at least the earliest source: an Arabic poem by Khaled ibn Fayyaz (d. c. 718).

[14][n 4] In later ancient Arabic and Persian sources Barbad is the most discussed Sasanian musician, though he is rarely included in writings dedicated solely to music.

[17] Tales from the poet Ferdowsi's Shahnameh, written during the late 10th century, include the most celebrated accounts of Barbad.

[27] According to the Seljuk scholar Nizam al-Mulk, Barbad visited a courtier who had been imprisoned by Khosrow and upon being scolded by the Shahanshah, a "witty remark" was enough to resolve the situation.

[27] In the literary scholar Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani's Kitab al-Aghani, a jealous rival musician once untuned the strings of Barbad's lute during a royal banquet.

[24] This story was relayed earliest by the poet Khaled ibn Fayyaz (d. c. 718),[n 4] with later accounts by al-Tha'alibi and the 13th-century writer Zakariya al-Qazwini.

[33][10] Al-Tha'alibi's account holds that Sarkash,[n 3] who had remained at the court since being ousted from the chief minstrel position, poisoned Barbad.

[33] The 9th-century geographer Ibn Khordadbeh's Kitāb al-lahw wa-l-malahi, however, records the opposite, stating that Barbad poisoned Sarkash but was spared from Khosrow's punishment by way of a "witty remark".

[7] The ethnomusicologist Hormoz Farhat has tentatively sorted them into different groupings: epic forms based on historical events, kin-i Iraj (lit.

[37] A single poem by Barbad survives, though in a quoted state from the Kitab al-lahw wa al-malahi by Ibn Khordadbeh.

[5] The text is found in a group of Manichaean manuscripts in Turpan, Xinjiang, China and is written in Middle Persian, which Barbad would have used.

Al-Tha'alibi first credited him with creating an organized modal system of seven "Royal modes" (al-ṭoruq al-molukiya) [fa],[39] known variously as xosrovani (Persian: سرود خسروانى),[7] Haft Ḵosravāni,[39] or khosravani.

[5][n 10] Farhat notes that the exact reason for this is not known,[40] though according to the 14th-century poet Hamdallah Mustawfi's Tarikh-i guzida, Barbad sang one of the 360 melodies each day for the Shahanshah.

[13] In addition, in his divan (collection of poems), the 11th-century poet Manuchehri names a few of the modes that Nizami mentioned but does not associate them with Barbad, even though he references the Sasanian musician elsewhere.

[45] The musicologists Jean During and Zia Mirabdolbaghi note that despite the instrument's gradual disuse, "the term barbat survived for centuries, through classical poetry, as a symbol of the golden age of the Persian musical tradition, served by artists such as Bārbad.

[46] In Sharh bar Kitāb al-adwar, the 14th-century writer al-Sharif al-Jurjani—whom the work is attributed to—says: "Among the ancient musicians, there were those who never played the same melody twice in presence of the king.

He paid attention to the disposition of his listeners' souls, and then he would improvise words and a melody suited to the occasion and corresponding perfectly to each person's desire.