Taqwacore updates (courtesy of جون بلوتن)

More on Taqwacore from جون بلوتن (Tales from Bradistan)

(1) A short excerpt from AMERICAN ARAB, an in-progress Kartemquin Films documentary by Usama Alshaibi, featuring Marwan Kamel of the Taqwacore band Al-Thawra.

(2) Another repost from Tales from Bradistan with some great photos of the Kominas

The Kominas Live In Bradistan

Following the ending of the taqwacore tour in the UK, Boston band The Kominas stayed on in order to play more shows. A hastily arranged session was put together in Bradistan and held at the Bradistan Playhouse. There was barely over twenty-four hours time to promote the gig plus it coincided with the world cup final so it was no surprise that it was very sparsely attended.

The gig was about as punk as it gets – no stage, half a drum kit with no microphones, no monitors and buzzing guitar leads – but the sound wasn’t that bad. The Kominas put in a typically energetic performance that lasted for around an hour. In the end they were taking requests from the audience and everyone who attended left satisfied.

Here is a selection of photographs that I took at the concert.

For more photographs click here

August 5, 2010
Categories: Cultural History, Genre, Identity, Music & Islam, Music & Religion, Punk, Rock, Taqwacore . Tags: , , , , , , , , . Author: Jeffrey Callen . Comments: 1 Comment

Thawra — Another Taqwacore installment from Tales from Bradistan

Another installment in the excellent series on Taqwacore from my sadiqi at Tales from Bradistan.

MONDAY, 26 JULY 2010


I am the revolution and you are the revolution
In your spirit you have the power
In your heart lies the secret
From your lips spills the truth
That the wine of power is in our blood
Together we can make a revolution
Tell your comrades
I am the revolution
We are the revolution

Recently I drove over to Preston to meet two of the bands that are at the forefront of thetaqwacore scene in the USA. I already wrote about The Kominas with some thoughts about the documentary film Taqwacore: The Birth Of Punk Islam. The other band on the tour were Al Thawra (“The Revolution” in arabic) from Chicago, a group that were not given much airtime in that film but certainly deserve greater recognition.

Al Thawra are a trio but on this trip they had expanded to four members. Syrian-Polish-American Marwan Kamel sings and plays guitar; Matt Scott stood in for the absent bassist Mario Salazar; Micah Bezold was on drums; and Adam Jennings from Winters In Osakaguested by playing the sampler. (to read on…)

July 26, 2010
Categories: Genre, Identity, Music & Islam, Music & Politics, Music & Religion, Punk, Rock, Taqwacore . Tags: , , , , , , . Author: Jeffrey Callen . Comments: Leave a Comment

The Kominas — Another Taqwacore installment from Tales from Bradistan

I’ll have some original material up next week but until then here’s another installment in the excellent series on Taqwacore from my sadiqi at Tales from Bradistan.

15 July 2010

The Kominas In Preston


After being brought over to the UK to perform at a special night at London’s prestigiousMeltdown Festival, taqwacore bands from the USA The Kominas and Al Thawra undertook a short tour that took in half a dozen dates in England and Scotland. I travelled over toPreston to meet them, take pictures and hear them play live.

The Kominas are one of the main bands featured in the documentary film Taqwacore: The Birth Of Punk Islam. Hailing from Boston, three of the members are of Pakistani origin and the fourth from India. On this tour they were joined by Elester Richard, a black American trumpet player who adds a different dimension to their sound.

The bands that make up this taqwacore scene are regularly described as Islamic punk. On their latest CD “Escape To Blackout Beach”, The Kominas sound more power pop than punk (although their first effort “Wild Nights In Guantanamo Bay” is quite a bit heavier). Live, they play much faster and with more energy and watching them reminds me of my misspent youth where I was seeing punk bands every week. (click here to read the rest)

July 15, 2010
Categories: Cultural History, Genre, Music & Islam, Music & Politics, Music & Religion, Punk, Rock, Taqwacore . Tags: , , , , , , , , , . Author: Jeffrey Callen . Comments: Leave a Comment

Still More on Taqwacore from Tales from Bradistan

Here is the trailer from the film “Taqwacore: The Birth of Punk Islam”. Below is more from the excellent series on Taqwacore in the excellent Tales from Bradistan blog– check it out!

Taqwacore

Taqwa - (Arabic: التقوى‎ at-taqwá) is the Islamic concept of “God-consciousness”

Core - (from Hardcore) is a subgenre of punk rock that’s generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock.

As humans, we need labels in order to describe things and have some kind of order in the world we live in. However, when it comes to music, labelling can become patently absurd. It seems like every genre of music has multiple off-shoots and for the outsider it can often be totally confusing to try and work your way through a maze of descriptive names. The metal and punk scenes in particular have a bewildering number of labels – how abouthardcore, hardline, street punk, grunge, metalcore, D-Beat, post-hardcore, emo, screamo,thrashcore, grindcore, sludge metal, crust punk or even anarcho-punk?

If that’s not enough then how about desi-punk, bollywood punk, raicore or punk islam? All of these terms are real and the ones in the last sentence all fall under the taqwacore genre that is attracting a lot of attention, in particular in the USA. If I wasn’t short of time and trying to get this blog entry together then I would probably think up a few terms of my own although I’m certain that someone like the satirists Chris Morris or Armando Iannuccicould do a lot better than my efforts.

While it starts to get quite laughable with all of these often quite ridiculous labels, the taqwacore genre is definitely worthy of attention as there are some quite interesting things happening in this scene. (to read the rest, click here).

July 13, 2010
Categories: Cinema, Cultural History, Genre, Identity, Music & Islam, Music & Politics, Music & Religion, Punk, Rock, Taqwacore . Tags: , , , , , , , , , . Author: Jeffrey Callen . Comments: 2 Comments

More on Taqwacore (Islamic hardcore) from Tales from Bradistan

Reposted below is the latest installment of an ongoing series on Taqwacore on Tales from Bradistan.

THURSDAY, 8 JULY 2010

Al Thawra – Miskeen

I’m still putting together my blog entry on the taqwacore punk bands Al Thawra and The Kominas and hope to publish it shortly. Until then, following on from last week’s taster “Sharia Law In The USA” by The Kominas, here is a crisp biscuit from Chicago punks Al Thawra. “Miskeen” which is arabic for a poor or unlucky person is taken from their 2008 CD “Who Benefits From War”. This is about as abrasive arab music ever gets and is not for the faint-hearted.

July 8, 2010
Categories: Cultural History, Genre, Identity, Metal, Music & Islam, Music & Religion, Popular Music, Punk . Tags: , , , , , . Author: Jeffrey Callen . Comments: Leave a Comment

Taqwacore — Islamic hardcore — “Sharia Law in the USA”

I’ve been meaning to educate myself and write something on Taqwacore but instead I’m going to repost a series starting today (July 2, 2010) on Tales from Bradistan (below). If you’re unfamiliar with Taqwacore, it is a sub-genre of punk music based on Michael Muhammad Knight‘s 2003 novel, The Taqwacores. Knight depicted a fictional Islamic punk scene in western New York State. By 2005, an actual Taqwacore scene had emerged in the U.S. with the label adopted by bands, such as The Kominas, Sagg Taqwacore Syndicate and Fedayeen.

There is not a definitive “taqwacore sound,” as artists incorporate various styles, ranging from punk to hip-hop, and musical traditions from the Muslim world; the Kominas describe their sound as “Bollywood punk”, Sagg Taqwacore Syndicate are rap and techno inspired music while Al-Thawra uses the term “raicore“, based on Arabic Raï music. (Wikipedia).

Reposted from Tales from Bradistan (more to come):

Sharia Law In The USA

As a taster for my forthcoming piece on the American taqwacore bands The Kominas and Al Thawra, here is one of the most important tunes from this emerging punk scene. This is The Kominas with the song “Sharia Law In The USA” and is particularly notable for its lyrical links to the Sex Pistols’ incendiary “Anarchy In The UK” which shook the nation way back in 1976. Just as punks and bored youth back then were looked down upon, it is too often Muslims these days who are the easy target for the ignorant. I love the opening lines “I am an islamist, I am the anti-christ” which perfectly sum up this situation.

July 2, 2010
Categories: American Music, Cultural History, Genre, Identity, Music & Islam, Music & Politics, Music & Religion, Punk, Taqwacore . Tags: , , , , , , , , , . Author: Jeffrey Callen . Comments: 1 Comment

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