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How the Jews Saved Islam

I was hoping that title would get someone’s attention. More specifically: I was reading The Hundred Thousand Fools of God: Musical Travels in Central Asia (And Queens, New York) and learned quite about the relationship between Bukharan Jews and Muslims in Transoxiana (modern day Uzbekistan and Tajikistan). In brief, Muslims started giving up aspects of their musical heritage and the Bukharan (here, basically meaning Central Asian) Jews took up the craft and helped preserve Islamicate music, especially the shash maqām. It’s a good read, and I highly recommend it. While it’s also a bit late for Diaspora Month, the last…

Free Book: “Dis-Orienting Rhythms” available for download

I love this book. I had just written an article on treating Fun^Da^Mental as part of the South Asian literary tradition (unpublished) about three months before this book came out in print. It’s a wonderful collection of essays, and they don’t all agree with one another. It’s a shame it’s out of print, because I think it’s a classic in the field, but I’m glad they’ve made it available for download. I learned about this book over ten years ago from Tony Mitchell, and have found it invaluable. I urge anyone interested in BrAsian politics and culture, fans of Fun’Da’Mental,…

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…