Muslims & Music (what's next?)

AA

Well, those crazy mumins are trying to get into just about everything these days. Now we're trying to get ourselves a niche in music. Ok, it's not totally out of the realm of possibility considering that we've been in the music world for a long time (i.e. qawwalis, naats, hamds, nasheeds), but there seems to be an increasing market for it right here in these United States of America as well as other major Western countries. And it's seemingly all right now on the DL; an underground movement and world of Muslims who are rocking out and getting down with their bad (in the good, halal sense) selves.

One of my friends - who I thought would be busy being a lawyer - has recently started his own record label out on the East Coast. The odd thing is that he's Bengali (i.e. East Pakistani). If the Bengalis are making a move on the music front, that alone deserves recognition on an intergalactic level. After all, I thought they were all farmers and fishermen. Guess not. Anyway, the name of his record label is TigerWolf Records (my explanation of the name: “Tiger” and Bengali – get the connection? “Wolf” because my friend, Tareq, has apparently watched Jungle Boy one too many times) and you can check out his label and the bands he promotes by going to his MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/tigerwolfrecords

I should entitle this blog entry as an Ode to Tareq the TigerWolf Guy since he's the one that emailed me a number of links pointing out this “movement.”

The range of Muslims in music includes hip hop to dance (or something like that). The hip hop one isn’t much of a surprise especially when you factor in 5 percenters (i.e. Lauryn Hill, WuTang Clan members, Rakim) but those guys are kinda strange from the little I know of them. I think they’re some random offshoot of NOI (Nation of Islam). But you have notable Muslims in hip hop like Mos Def, Lupe Fiasco, DJ Khaled, Q-Tip and Ali Shaheed Muhammad from A Tribe Called Quest, Outlandish, and my brother Umar who aspires to be a lyrical freestylist master. But even outside of the mainstream well-known artists (and Umar’s fantasies), you have other Muslims in hip hop that are trying to create a name for themselves. You can get more insight into their world by checking out such links like http://www.myspace.com/muslimsinhiphop, a group that has been around for a few years according to their site.

The next genre of music includes a fusion of sorts. In fact, I’ll let the Muslim artist explain it in his own words, “Celt-Islam uses a fusion of music from dub/electro/drum and bass-breaks and collaborates it with Islamic/world grooves to create this dub driven dance crossover.” Ok, sure. I believe the first part, but I’m really not following his “Islamic/world grooves” bit and how this can be likened to Sufi mysticism (on his myspace, some critics draw that comparison). In its own right, it’s sure as hell mystic, but putting that “sufi” terminology before it is problematic to me because it gives Sufism an eerie, or laughable, or even intimidating outlook. Sufism is not about “music from dub/electro/drum” influences, but rather is a deeply spiritual science in Islam influenced by the love of Allah and The Prophet (sw). I am aware that there are those who would argue with me saying that music is spiritual, and while in some aspects it may be (though I am hesitant to fully claim that); this music does not bring me closer to Allah. Some of it can make me feel relaxed and subdued with the laid back but intriguing flow, but it’s not “sufi” enough to make me feel close to God.

But, I’m semi-digressing here. So the name of this group that I’m speaking of is Celt Islam Soundsystem (http://myspace.com/celtislamsoundsystem) and they like to associate themselves with a larger Muslim music organization called Tawheed Is Unity (http://tawheedisunity.com/news.html). The best way I can describe tawheed in my own words is that it means the oneness of Allah. This organization is using it to describe unity, as made evident by its name, and I do kinda like what they’re trying to do: basically, give hip-hop minded Muslims an outlet. That’s better than going to other sites like MTV where you’re eventually just looking for some haram-ness. Getting back to Celt Islam; the more I listen to some of their music, the more I’m liking them, though you do definitely have to be in a spiritual-like (musically speaking) mood to truly appreciate it (I’m listening to Celt Islam’s Marifa right now; FAKIR is also very solid).

One thing to note with Tawheed Is Unity is what essentially could be likened to their mission statement: “Tawheed Is Unity was launched in June 2006 with the intention to create a home for all things that young Muslims living in western countries could want but not find anywhere else. Beginning with clothing and soon to be expanding into music and art, our aim is to develop a definable urban Muslim culture. A culture that draws on the best of western society but is unashamedly Islamic in its basis.” Tight, my brothers. In this day and age, that works with me (take a look at the clothes they sell). A Muslim music identity and especially one more so in hip hop – a branch of music that I have grown up listening to and loving.

Now comes my favorite part; introducing you to Hayam Nur as Sufi (formerly known as Deadly Kristin). She is an artist that puts out dance/techno-like/gothic/Aegis-like music. You can check her out (not like that) at: http://myspace.com/deadlykristin. Apparently, she’s a Muslim revert/convert in Sweden. How hot is that?! I mean, listen to her music and tell me that you would’ve guessed that this artist is a mumin! I also respect that on her myspace page, she’s specifically mentioned that she doesn’t want any flirtatious people contacting her, which almost immediately ruled me out, sadly. But I am definitely curious to hear about her conversion process. One website posted an interview with her, and though I’m not sure about the website’s credibility because I’m not a metal head, it definitely looks legit: http://www.hailmetal.com/gate.html?name=MReviews&op=show&rid=192
According to that website, it seems that she has an affinity towards Sufism, though she did say that she’s not a part of any particular Sufi order (tariqa).

Well, that’s all I have for now on Muslims & Music. On a side note, my man Tareq is also busying himself with a management company he started called Midnight Skies Management (my explanation of the name: “Midnight” because as a desi Muslim, he can only get away with doing this stuff after midnight and “Skies” because that’s where his head is). Right now he’s managing two rap artists (not necessarily Muslims either):
http://myspace.com/gdashuno [he’s pretty decent, actually]
http://myspace.com/barakyalad [I really like his style]

I gotta say that when I got Tareq’s email about these new endeavors of his, I was shocked because I would have never imagined that this type of stuff was his cup of tea, but I guess it is. I hope it works out for him and I will watch with eager anticipation to see how this develops for him. And, for the record, I knew him before he was Tareq the Desi P-DIDDY Music Mogul.

Good luck, my brother. Keep those links coming.