Taqwacore
| Taqwacore | |
|---|---|
| Stylistic origins | |
| Cultural origins | 1990s, European and American Islamic communities |
| Typical instruments | |
| Other topics | |
Taqwacore is a subgenre of punk music dealing with Islam, its culture, and interpretation. Originally conceived in Michael Muhammad Knight's 2003 novel, The Taqwacores, the name is a portmanteau of hardcore and the Arabic word Taqwa, which is usually translated as "piety" or the quality of being "God-fearing", and thus roughly denotes reverence and love of the divine. The scene is composed mainly of young Muslim artists living in the US and other Western countries, many of whom openly reject traditionalist interpretations of Islam, and thus live their own lifestyle within the religion or without.
Muslim punk music dates at least to the 1979 founding of British band Alien Kulture. In the 1990s, Nation Records act Fun-Da-Mental and Asian Dub Foundation emerged solidifying the first examples of UK Muslim generated punk. In an interview, Aki Nawaz, founder of Nation Records, stated that "Islam for me was more punk than punk" Knight's novel was instrumental in encouraging the growth of a contemporary North American Muslim punk movement, and many bands who used the term taqwacore were ones that traveled with Knight on the ISNA tour featured in the documentary. Thus, the taqwacore community is almost inseparable with Knight and his literature.
The first bands to use the term taqwacore are The Kominas, Vote Hezbollah and the Sagg Taqwacore Syndicate. Other bands on the scene include, Secret Trial Five, Fedayeen, Sarmust and other bands under SG-Records.
When Kourosh Poursalehi first read The Taqwacores, he took it to be a true account of real Muslims in the United States. He composed a song to Michael Muhammad Knights poem "Muhammad was a Punk Rocker", and sent it to Knight in New York. Knight was extremely happy with what he heard, knowing that his book had reached real Muslims similar to himself, and he played the song on repeat over and over. They ended up meeting in Boston, where with Basim Usmani, the Kominas were formed, and the seeds of their tour were planted.
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