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He Who Burns

My dear friend is putting on a dance performance in NY this weekend. It is titled “He Who Burns,” and plays with the idea put forward by Hallaj that Iblis was cast out of Heaven for being the truest lover of God. He refuse to bow to Adam not because he was disobedient, but because none is worthy of worship other than God. Check it out. He Who Burns

Michael Jackson is Dead, so is Neda [update]

Yesterday, June 25, 2009. Michael Jackson died; God rest his soul. I was not going to blog about his passing. He is an artist, a celebrity, why is his death more important than any other? He was an artistic genius, of that there can be no doubt. What he did for music and dance in pop is unparalleled. However, he was still a human being. He had an impact on my childhood, but I did not know him. In many respects, because of his fame, he was unreal. He was no closer to me than Rumi, whose poetry speaks to…

Contemporary Pakistani Music

It’s not all about Junoon anymore, if it ever was. CNN ran this article several months ago about heavy metal in Pakistan, including some type of hip-hop dancing thing. Videos below: Compare this view of music to what the Kominas deal with in their expression of punk (h/t Sepia Mutiny): Of course, both sources have distinct narratives they need to tell. The truth of the popularity and acceptability of such music in Pakistan is somewhere in the middle. Although Junoon did lay the ground work, the increase in Islamist activity and thinking means that performing music remains problematic. I’m not…