Signs of the Protestantization and Americanization of Islam: the creation of a Muslim punk movement around an underground novel that's been made into an indie film. Excerpt:
Noureen DeWulf, 24, an actress who plays a rocker in the movie, defended the film's message."I'm a Muslim and I'm 100-percent American," Ms. DeWulf said, "so I can criticize my faith and my country. Rebellion? Punk? This is totally American."
The novel's title combines "taqwa," the Arabic word for "piety," with "hardcore," used to describe many genres of angry Western music.
For many young American Muslims, stigmatized by their peers after the Sept. 11 attacks but repelled by both the Bush administration's reaction to the attacks and the rigid conservatism of many Muslim leaders, the novel became a blueprint for their lives.
"Reading the book was totally liberating for me," said Areej Zufari, 34, a Muslim and a humanities professor at Valencia Community College in Orlando, Fla.
Ms. Zufari said she had listened to punk music growing up in Arkansas and found "The Taqwacores" four years ago.
"Here was someone as frustrated with Islam as me," she said, "and he expressed it using bands I love, like the Dead Kennedys. It all came together."
Um, I'm not sure what to say about this. But I bet you know what to say.
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Granted, Elizabeth Anne, I am ignorant of punk rock, so I decided to get educated, and went to Youtube and searched for Mos Def 's "Rock and Rock". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paW_sMtD_v0
OMG? This is music? This is Anything? Four minutes of 4 notes (not from any instrument I have ever heard before, so must be electronic) repeated ad nauseum. But because you said something good would come of this, I hung in. And what did I get but 70 seconds of a different set of repetitive noises signifying something to you perhaps, but not to me. I guess I am too old to learn.
I spent a few minutes listening to Pavarotti singing Puccini at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOfC9LfR3PI&feature=related
THAT is great music performed by a great artist.
Um, I'm not sure what to say about this. But I bet you know what to say.
Sure do. Let freedom ring!!!
AML,
Part of the problem is that you listened to an instrumental version. Go to this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bg8cKch5ueU
And Rock n Roll starts at about minute 3. You may still not like it: not everybody likes everything! But it's something different with the vocals, which are the primary point.
I love Pavarotti, too, although I prefer Placido Domingo. Although to REALLY come down to it, I prefer choral music. The Carmina Burana is one of my favorite pieces - especially the Robert Shaw singers did with it.
Great stuff; America's ability to dissolve the rigid boundaries of religion, nationality and culture inspires patriotic feelings in me like little else does. Anne hits the nail on the head, though unlike her I see it as cause for celebration.
The best punk rock of the 1990s came from outside Christendom (mostly Japan - hey, AML, if you didn't like Mos Def, you ought to try Teengenerate (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uk9-lcf7W34 - look for me in the crowd!), Guitar Wolf (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8qT7OTkkmE) or Gauze (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhbHn4g3T2w), all much better than that Pavarotti racket!), so I'm very curious and excited to see what kind of sounds these kids come up with.
The Texas Observer did an article about this awhile back. One can argue that this musical movement had its genesis in Texas. Rock on.
http://www.texasobserver.org/article.php?aid=2653
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