Music, Culture And Identity In The Muslim World

Description: In contrast to many books on Islam that focus on political rhetoric and activism, this book explores Islam's extraordinarily rich cultural and artistic diversity, showing how sound, music and bodily performance offer a window onto the subtleties and humanity of Islamic religious experience. Through a wide range of case studies from West Asia, South Asia and North Africa and their diasporas - including studies of Sufi chanting in Egypt and Morocco, dance in Afghanistan, and "Muslim punk" on-line - the book demonstrates how Islam should not be conceived of as being monolithic or monocultural, how there is a large disagreement within Islam as to how music and performance should be approached, such disagreements being closely related to debates about orthodoxy, secularism, and moderate and fundamental Islam, and how important cultural activities have been, and continue to be, for the formation of Muslim identity.


Contents: Introduction Kamal Salhi 1. Sufism between haqiqa and sahri'a: Some social forces shaping the heterodoxy of Sufi musical-poetic performance in contemporary Egypt Michael Frishkopf 2. The Manifest and the Hidden: Agency and loss in Muslim performance traditions of south and west Asia Richard K. Wolf 3. New Islamist Popular Culture in Turkey Martin Stokes 4. Debating Piety and Performing Arts in the Public Sphere: The 'caravan' of veiled actresses in Egypt Karin van Nieuwkerk 5. Wha Wha, Meida Meida! The changing role of dance in Afghanistani culture John Baily 6. Sufi Chanting and National Identity Formation: the Cases of Egypt and Morocco Earle Waugh 7. 'Muslim Punk' Music Online: Piety and Protest in the Digital Age Dhiraj Murthy 8. Devotion or Pleasure? Music and Meaning in the Celluloid Performances of Qawwali in South Asia and the Diaspora Natalie Sarrazin 9. Hip Hop Bismillah: Subcultural Worship of Allah in Western Europe Maruta Herding 10. Performing North Africa in France Kamal Salhi 11. The Bradford Mela: a South Asian Festival in Britain Thomas E. Hodgson 12. Muslims, music, meat and masculinity: Lil Maaz's journey from the kebab shop to online fame Jonathan Ervine


Author Biography: Kamal Salhi is Reader in Francophone, Postcolonial and North African Studies at the University of Leeds and Deputy Director of the Leeds Centre for African Studies