Category Archives: Music and Dance

Dancing in the Garden

Iran, Miniatures, Music and Dance, Poetry


Scene from the Divan of Hafiz, Herat School, 1523, Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

O beautiful wine-bearer, bring forth the cup and put it to my lips
Path of love seemed easy at first, what came was many hardships.
With its perfume, the morning breeze unlocks those beautiful locks
The curl of those dark ringlets, many hearts to shreds strips.
In the house of my Beloved, how can I enjoy the feast
Since the church bells call the call that for pilgrimage equips.
With wine color your robe, one of the old Magi’s best tips
Trust in this traveler’s tips, who knows of many paths and trips.
The dark midnight, fearful waves, and the tempestuous whirlpool
How can he know of our state, while ports house his unladen ships.
I followed my own path of love, and now I am in bad repute
How can a secret remain veiled, if from every tongue it drips?
If His presence you seek, Hafiz, then why yourself eclipse?
Stick to the One you know, let go of imaginary trips.

Hafiz, Divan, Ghazal 1

We are not that

Music and Dance, Pakistan, Terrorism Issue, YouTube Watch

It has been said that music is able to soothe the savage soul, so perhaps it can help reduce the bias that assume Muslim souls are innately savage. A recent video, called Yeh Hum Naheem, with several Pakistani pop stars, has been released and can be seen on YouTube.

Here is the description from the website:

Yeh Hum Naheen has become a truly unprecedented musical movement. Featuring the vocal talents of some of Pakistans biggest music artists, including Haroon, Ali Haider, Ali Zafar, Shufqat, Strings, Shuja Haider and Hadiqa Kiani, uniting to sing out the message the world needs to hear.

Written by Ali Moeen, Pakistans foremost lyricist, with music composed by Shuja Haider, its the central message of the song that has compelled so many people to become involved. It is a message of reconciliation, a message of peace and a message of truth. Capturing the imagination of people across the board, Yeh Hum Naheen has given a voice to the silent majority, those in the Muslim world who have for too long been mis-represented. These are the people who although not appearing on our television screens are saddened and shocked at the high-jacking of Islam by terrorists, and want to stand up and shout “This is Not Us”. The song is the brainchild of Waseem Mahmood, author and media consultant, who took inspiration for the project from his children. They were tired at the way a minority of misguided young people were vehemently putting forward a message of radicalization and terrorism which was at odds with what the majority of Muslims believe. It is time to re-address the imbalance, and from the smallest child to the oldest person, Yeh Hum Naheen seeks to give a voice to the voiceless.

Sufi Film on Link TV

Film and Video, Journalism and Media, Music and Dance


A Sufi qawall offering his devotional music in Lahore

Sufi Soul – The Mystic Music of Islam
U.K., 50 minutes

Director: Simon Broughton

Appearing on Link TV, Saturday, February 23. Visit the site for a preview.

With a dogmatic and fundamentalist view of Muslims increasingly predominant in the Western media, there has never been a more important time to show an alternative view of Islam. Sufism is the mystical dimension of Islam that preaches peace, tolerance and pluralism, while encouraging music as a way of deepening one’s relationship with God. This documentary explores Sufism and its music in different parts of the Islamic world, including Syria, Turkey, Pakistan and Morocco.

Sufi Soul reveals the views and beliefs of devotees while examining the growing threat from fundamentalist Islam and showcasing fantastic performances from some of the world’s greatest Sufi musicians.

For a review of the film, click here.

To Sing or to Sin? Is that the Question?

Islamic Law, Music and Dance, Yemen

Music is alive and well in Muslim societies; Arab, Persian, Indian and Indonesian pop stars abound on the satellite channels and perform at weddings and other celebrations. There are also famous music festivals, the Baalbek Music Festival being one of the most known venues. So it should not be a surprise that the Yemeni port of Aden, long a crossroads of Muslims traveling east and west, should be the home of an Arab music festival. The Aden Festival was booked for February 14 with the Syrian singer Asalah Nasri and Egyptian star Issam Karika. As noted in an article in the current Yemen Observer, the director of the Aden cultural office, Abdullah Kudadah, considers the festival as a primary step for creating a tourism culture that will contribute to the economic and cultural renaissance of Yemen.

He further mentioned that this coming concert was among several proposed festivals for singers from different Arab states, as well as the fact that Yemen is launching four new satellite channels.

“Music is an international language. We know how the ancient Arab tribes used to celebrate their poets because they used to believe that their poets would promote the tribe. The success of a poet is the success of the whole tribe,” said Kudada. He added that Ukadh used to be the forum for all Arab poets from different Arab regions.

The director of Aden festival, Marwan al-Khalid, said the festival is the first of its kind organized by the Aden governorate. He said the festival will be held in the 22 May stadium and that more than 400 prizes will be given to the audience. In addition to 400 cell phones and one million Yemeni riyals divided amongst twenty winners, the grand prize of a Hyundai automobile will also be given away. Al-Khalid added that there would be VIP tickets costing $100 each, which include dinner and beverages. Ordinary tickets will cost YR3000 each.

Organizers have also decided to donate 30 percent of the concert proceeds to the aid of the Palestinian people in Gaza and to cancer health care in Yemen.

Al-Khalid expected a great turnout for the festival due to the fame of the Syrian singer.

Cultural expression and tourism: what could be wrong with that? The Devil, quite literally it seems, is in the details, also noted in the Yemen Observer article: Continue reading To Sing or to Sin? Is that the Question? →

Hillbilly Heaven and Muslim Paradise

Islam in America, Music and Dance, Terrorism Issue, YouTube Watch

There is an old Tex Ritter song where he imagines going to heaven and hearing the roll call of future Country Western singers. It goes like this:

I met all the stars in hillbilly heaven
Oh what a star-studded night

Then I asked him who else do you expect in the next, uh, say a hundred years? He handed me a large book covered with star dust. Will called it the Big Tally Book. In it were many names and each name was branded in pure gold. I began to read some of them as I turned the pages: Red Foley, Ernest Tubb, Gene Autry, Roy Acuff, Eddy Arnold, Tennessee Ernie, Jimmy Dean, Andy Griffith, Roy Rogers, Kareem Salama
Whaaaatttt???
Kareem Salama? Oh, well, that’s when I woke up, and I’m sorry I did, because
I dreamed I was there in hillbilly heaven
Oh what a beautiful sight…

OK, so the original lyrics did not include Kareem Salama, but if Dolly Parton can rearrange the song, why can’t I? So who is Kareem Salama, you ask? Continue reading Hillbilly Heaven and Muslim Paradise →

Want to Watch My Harem?

Gender and Sexuality, Music and Dance, Orientalism

Ah, vaudeville. Before Elvis, the Beatles and the Beastie Boys, there were those corny songs targeting recent immigrants to America. One of those immigrants with a Sicilian last name would have been my grandfather, Martin Varisco, who in 1913 left the Big Apple Blossom to work on the railroad and work his way west. He made it to Ohio, where he married and settled down. But the very year he left New York, the songwriter Irving Berlin produced one of his less memorable songs. This was for the Irish, not the Italians, an important distinction on the streets and in the bars at the time. But here’s what can happen when Tin Pan Alley gets confused with Midaq Alley: an Irishman named Pat Malone with rhyme running amok in a Turkish harem. Continue reading Want to Watch My Harem? →

Trillion Dollar Baby

Iraq War, Music and Dance, Terrorism Issue

There is only one rock band that I have seen live twice in my life. It was not summer and school was not out and I really think of myself as a nice guy, but, yes, it was Alice Cooper. One of these was the famous green “Billion Dollar Babies” album, which is now beyond 33 (despite the fact it is still 33 rpm) years old. At the time, just graduating from college, a billion dollars seemed astronomical to me. Alice is still performing and selling merchandise, but a billion is no longer a big deal. Consider that a report has just been issued saying that 1.6 trillion dollars will have been spent by the end of next year by our U.S. government on the combined wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Welcome to our nightmare. Continue reading Trillion Dollar Baby →

Afghanistan: The Vaudeville Version

Afghanistan, Music and Dance, Orientalism

America not only flexes its military muscles and economic clout around the world, but at times takes the rest of the world for a song and dance. Vaudeville, the early 20th century dance hall and stage phenomenon, lyrically used and abused the world as a stage. But it seldom looked much like the real world of the time, and certainly not after almost a century later. Here was popular Orientalism, in the Valentino Sheik mode, for anyone who could afford sheet music. One of the wonderful nostalgic websites documenting this era is Parlor Songs, which publishes an online magazine.

If you would like to see how Vaudeville treated the Orient, check out the article by Richard A. Reublin in the 2005 issue. Among the songs discussed is “Afghanistan” written in 1920 by William Wilander and Harry Donnelly. Click here to listen to the song as you read the lyrics:

Afghanistan
A Romance of Asia
Words and Music by
William Wilander & Harry Donnelly
Published 1920 by Gilbert & Friedland, Inc.

[Verse 1]
In the land of Afghanistan,
There’s a Hindu maid and a man,
She swore by the stars up above her,
That he was the one to love her. Continue reading Afghanistan: The Vaudeville Version →