Taqwacore: Rise of the Muslim Punk
by Muhammad on July 17, 2007
in Uncategorized
Came across this at Kim Badawi’s homepage. She chronicles this phenomenon of an Islamic Punk Band and a genre called Taqwacore.
Just like everything in the United States… Muslim Punks do exist in the United States! American Muslims, who do aspire to defeat the stereotype and challenge freedom to expression as a true Americans, as well as Muslims… Taqwacore, a genre of Muslim punk rock, existing only in the novel at the time of its writing, has since emerged as an actual genre, inspiring bands across North America. – Kim Badawi
The below is from Wikipedia.
Taqwacore is a genre of punk music dealing with Islam and its culture, originally conceived in Michael Muhammad Knight‘s novel, The Taqwacores. The name is a portmanteau of hardcoreArabic word Taqwa,
which is usually translated as “piety” or the quality of being “God-fearing”, and thus roughly denotes fear and love of the divine. and the The first bands to use the term taqwacore are The Kominas, 8-bit and Vote Hezbollah.[citation needed]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 (shown in the above picture) describe their sound as “Bollywood punk” while Al-Thawra uses the term “raicore,” based on Arabic rai music.[citation needed]
Very interesting indeed.
Technorati Tags: Taqwacore, Music, Islam, Punk, Islamic Punk Bands, Kominas
Muslim punks…hmmm I know/knew a few, they’ve since emigrated from SA. But besides wmployment reasons, it was also due to the fact that we have a very intolerant society. Intolerant in terms of anyone who deviates from the typical MuslimIndianSouthAfrican norm is regarded as a someone who is not “all there”. We’re more “there” than most of the sheep though.
Yes, I might be regarded as a goth, but my views on Islam and Politics and Religion in general do not make me any “less Muslim” than the next. I think it’s about time society learned that different doesn’t always mean deviant.
PS I don’t have time to read blogs, but I make a point of getting access to The Front Line, been meaning to mail you, because I *a-hem* where’s the comment link? :/
yeah i R techno-twat lol but my eyes need to get accustomed to the “light” background, vampire and such lala :D
*employment
bleh
keep looking… lol on Front Line the link is at the top under the heading… like on this blog. Look for “Shots Fired…”
Sharp.
M.
kim is male
salaam.
what you are talking about here is an impossible paradox. there cant be muslim punks since both muslim and punk are against each other,
what i mean is a punk is a renegade. thats the idea of a punk. someone who dosent sleep well if he or she dosent shock and awe. islam is against the idea of someone being a rebel for no reason. and islam is certainly against being a rebel so that onem ay look impressive.
punks represent a devil may care way of life where the ego is accentuated. islam is about submitting the ego and the self to ALLAH.
@bayezid: I agree with you in some aspects, but I believe it depends on the intention of the people involved… in this case, the whole thing looks extremely dodgy.