Travel the globe through Hisham Aidi’s “Rebel Music” playlist and you’ll find yourself sampling Taqwacore (Islamic punk) from Pakistani-American punk rockers, Randy Weston’s fusion of jazz and Gnawa (African Islamic spiritual music), and poppy Brazilian funk from the soundtrack of a Brazilian telenovela filmed in Turkey. Throughout the extraordinary breadth of his book, Rebel Music: Race, Empire and the New Muslim Youth Culture, Aidi looks at the bridge between political activism and music through a historic and cultural lens, focusing on youth movements and the trans-Atlantic journey that Muslims, both European and American, are making in their search for freedom and a modern identity. What might their “audiotopia” sound like? Aidi previews a few of the tracks on his playlist for us here. Join Hisham Aidi together with Safa Samiezade’-Yazd, Aslan Media’s art, culture and music editor, for a listening experience and conversation at ALOUD on March 13.
The Kominas, “Tunn”
Pakistani-American punk rockers part of Taqwacore movement, responding to Bush/Blair/Musharaf policy of using Sufism for de-radicalization
Randy Weston, “Blue Moses” (advance to 3:30 min mark)
Weston was one of the earliest American musicians to take an interest in Ganwa, helping bring the music out of the margins and into the mainstream
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0CCsdlpp4A&feature=kp
Koringa, “Dança Sensual”
Funk soundtrack to Brazilian telenovela “Salve Jorge” which addresses relations between Brazil and Turkey, and caused a mania for all Turkish things in Brazil
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9xC0fBMdx4
Hanine Y Son Cubano, “‘Ala Bali” (advance to 1:45 min mark)
Lebanese-Cuban collaboration and example of post-9/11 wave of Tropicalism-Orientalism. Stunning call and response
Outlandish, “Callin’ U”
Danish-Muslim hip-hop/R&B trio, pioneers of European Muslim rap & R&B
The above image featured on the ALOUD spring postcard features a photograph of artist Mohammed Ali’s fusion of street art and Arabic script (“Unity”) on a wall in Birmingham, UK.