Posted on 08/11/2009 8:55:47 AM PDT by freed0misntfree
(CNN) -- The guitarist stands in front of a mirror messing with his mohawk. The drummer strikes a wild tempo. The singer rips off his T-shirt and begins to scream the lyrics. Basim Usmani is bassist for The Kominas, a group that blends traditional sounds with punk rock beats.
They're young. They're punk. And they're rocking both their Muslim and American worlds with their music, lyrics and style.
"A lot of times people say, 'Oh wow, look, brown people playing music' [but] it's more than that," said 25-year-old Pakistani-American Shahjehan Khan, the lead singer for a Muslim punk band, The Kominas.
The Boston-based band is one of a handful of Muslim punk bands that emerged in the United States in the past few years.
The members of this four-person rock group with South Asian roots hold varying views on religion. One says he's an atheist; three others identify as Muslims -- both practicing and non-practicing. For them, punk music is a way to rebel against their conservative cultural upbringing and the frustrations of growing up a young Muslim in America.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
“Our next number will be ‘How do you solve a problem like Shariah,’ which we will begin playing after all of the women move to the back of the room.”
Punk is dead. Unfortunately.
Atheist? Stoning!
Non-practicing Muslim? He's an apostate. Stoning!
Singing with music? Stoning!
When the audience spits on you, does that count as halal?
1) She Blowed Up Real Good!
2) Decapitate My Date
3) Jihad for Johnny
4) Beat It With a Tire Iron
5) Stoned My Sister in Honor
6) Camel Romance
just like the Palestinians are adopting all of the thuggiest forms of Rap Music from the Hood....
Now the king told the boogie men
You have to let that raga drop
The oil down the desert way
Has been shakin to the top
The sheik he drove his cadillac
He went a cruisnin down the ville
The muezzin was a standing
On the radiator grille
Chorus
The shareef dont like it
Rockin the casbah
Rock the casbah
The shareef dont like it
Rockin the casbah
Rock the casbah
By order of the prophet
We ban that boogie sound
Degenerate the faithful
With that crazy casbah sound
But the bedouin they brought out
The electric camel drum
The local guitar picker
Got his guitar picking thumb
As soon as the shareef
Had cleared the square
They began to wail
Chorus
Now over at the temple
Oh! they really pack em in
The in crowd say its cool
To dig this chanting thing
But as the wind changed direction
The temple band took five
The crowd caught a wiff
Of that crazy casbah jive
Chorus
The king called up his jet fighters
He said you better earn your pay
Drop your bombs between the minarets
Down the casbah way
As soon as the shareef was
Chauffeured outta there
The jet pilots tuned to
The cockpit radio blare
As soon as the shareef was
Outta their hair
The jet pilots wailed
Drugs, Sex, Rock N Roll
World’s best weapon against militant Islam
When the youth laugh at the mullahs, the world is winning.
‘Oh wow, look, brown people playing music’ I’m sure the crowd really says this.
I have no problems with watered down “Islam”. I’d prefer people to come to Christ for their own good, but at least this crowd will only be offending your ears — and not removing them from your head.
I think that qualifies as a hate thought crime.
HUH?
Was this posted article about something?
Islamic supremacists are considered differently than "traditional" nazi punks. They all should F... OFF.
I refuse to live under Islamic theocracy in America. GOT THAT, "PUNK"?
I refuse to bow to someone who adds Islamic terrorism to the already "agro" punk ethic of destroying capitalism/consumerism e.g. "Suicide Bomb the GAP".
It's a marketing gimmick and agit prop so they can claim victim status. One's an atheist, at least another 2 are non-observant muslims.
It's still offensive. I wouldn't ask a neonazi if he really believes the crap he spouts to denounce him.
In Boston the college libs probably ARE saying this. And the editor at CNN certainly noticed skin color.
They wouldn’t be so happy about evangelical punks singing songs like the Sex Pistols’ abortion song “Bodies”.
Do it in Saudi Arabia and you're rocking headless. Just sayin'....
Before the Islamic punk movement in North America had a voice, it had a story. The Muslim punk scene began to gel in 2003 when novelist and convert to Islam, Michael Muhammad Knight self-published his book, "The Taqwacores" about a fictional Muslim punk scene in Buffalo, New York.
There were rock groups in Iran before the Revolution.
Except that being "punk" as he describes it is about individualism (even if some adopt it as being different "like everybody else" with nose pierce, the same hip band tattoos, etc etc).
Islam means SUBMIT.
You can be proud of being a muslim, but you can't express your individuality under Islam.
Knight, who grew up with a Catholic mother and white supremacist father, converted to Islam when he was 16.
That sounds more typically like rebellion and/or rejection or parental beliefs than conversion.
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