Music

Event Announcement: A Mystical Journey

A Mystical Journey – Sufi Music and other Expressions of Devotion from the Muslim World is a Golden Jubilee International Programme featuring artists from Algeria, Bosnia, Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Syria performing music from various Sufi and other esoteric traditions of Islam. A Mystical Journey seeks to express the rich diversity of devotional expressions in Islam reflecting different geographies, languages and traditions. Though different in form, these acts of devotion are common in their peaceful search for the divine and represent the pluralistic traditions and mystical unity among different communities of interpretation within the Muslim world. New York performance date…

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Music

Brother Ali

Read an article about a new rapper Brother Ali. Tunes sounded slick, but his name caught my attention. Was he Muslim? Was he Muslim-chic (yes, it exists in hip-hop and in dress)? Did some b/g, and he is Muslim. Tunes are slick. Technorati Tags: Islam in the US, hip-hop

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Music

Mahound Vicious

Moslems do punk! They listen to music. They are human. They participate in American culture. It’s true. I saw it here. In case you don’t catch it, the part I hate the most, in an otherwise decent article, is: Admittedly, these Muslim punks aren’t especially devout, at least in the tradition-al sense. None goes to Friday prayers regularly, but they all say they’re deeply spiritual. To them, Islam begins and ends with one’s personal relationship with God. After a recent show at a Manhattan bar, Waqar felt the urge to pray. “I went into the men’s room, got down on…

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Inter-faith Music

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…

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Inter-faith Music

Hasidic Reggae

Yes Virginia, it’s true. Take a look at this site, just to read comments like this: “He can really rip,” agrees hip-hop producer and bassist Yossi Fine (David Bowie, Me’Shell Ndege-Ocello), who is himself part Israeli and Afro-Jamaican Jew. “He’s extremely fierce, jumping around the stage. The only difference between him and a Jamaican rapper is that he takes the lyrics from the Bible instead of from Rasta. He changes ‘Jah’ to ‘Hashem’ [Hebrew for God].” I intend to buy an album. Seems very cool. Also, here.

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Intra-faith Music Religion

On the AKAA

The AKAA (Aga Khan Award for Architecture) has received a lot of press that I’m just beginning to compile here. Also checkout the book for this year’s cycle. Celebrating Beauty Visionary Design Award Giver gets his due Houston Chronicle (favorite line: “even Muslims have to pee”) While not properly about the award, here’s some information about the Central Asian Music Initiative also supported by His Highness.

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