Rock (and Rap) the Casbah | Heavy Metal Islam: Rock, Resistance, and the Struggle for the Soul of Islam |...

book: Heavy Metal Islam: Rock, Resistance, and the Struggle for the Soul of Islam | Mark Levine

books:


	• Heavy Metal Islam: Rock, Resistance, and the Struggle for the Soul of Islam Mark Levine Three Rivers Press, 2008 - 304 pages average customer review:based on 5 reviews view larger image
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A look at Middle Eastern culture beyond Heavy Metal

You don't have to be a fan of heavy metal music to find interest in this book, I know its certainly not my scene. What I like about this book is that Mark Levine isn't relying on interviews alone to tell the stories of how musician's struggle in countries that try to censor them, he puts himself in the middle of it. He spends time with these musicians, he performs with them and he sees the heart and the pain behind the music these artists are creating. The book also goes into the internal conflict some of these musicians face in weighing out religion vs music and how they balance the two.

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in learning about some of the things western and eastern cultures have in common and the differences related to that commonality.

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Rock (and Rap) the Casbah

American and Western rockers like to pretend they're revolutionaries who are sticking it to the man and changing the world. But in Muslim nations, metalheads and rappers fight the sting of real political, cultural, religious, and military harassment. LeVine is both a working musician and an academic expert who has travelled extensively through the Middle East and North Africa, and he delivers a fun and readbale odyssey through several poorly understood nations, highlighting groundbreaking artists and the political/cultural developments that inspire, and are inspired by, the metal and rap underground. In addition to showcasing a great many intriguing artists who are using the power of forbidden music to comment on the struggles faced by their peoples, LeVine also illustrates the great diversity of Middle Eastern societies, presenting complex and varied cultures that are a far cry from the simplistic religious militancy displayed in the Western press since 9/11.

Underground musicians of the region really are sticking it to the man (that is, the religious and/or military big brothers of their countries) and have had a real impact on social movements and cultural awakenings. While you'll need some tolerance for LeVine's lapses into turgid professor-ese (like an ongoing anemic application of public sphere theory and occasional lapses into big pseudo-thoughts like "the complex politics of cultural production"), he more than makes up for it with stirring descriptions of the sounds created by esoteric musicians and the worldviews of the region's progressives and nonconformists. LeVine also presents a plausible (though probably monochromatic) young person's view of the state of the Muslim world and its sociological near-futures, mostly dispensing with unrealistic idealism.

In addition to being a plausible political/cultural study and an even better work of globe-trotting musicology, this book ultimately brings well-deserved attention to musicians who have literally risked their lives or livelihoods to be heard. Count on me to pick up the forthcoming CD from LeVine's growing Heavy Metal Islam artist development project. [~doomsdayer520~]

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?We play heavy metal because our lives are heavy metal.?
?Reda Zine, one of the founders of the Moroccan heavy-metal scene

?Music is the weapon of the future.?
?Fela Kuti

An eighteen-year-old Moroccan who loves Black Sabbath. A twenty-two-year-old rapper from the Gaza Strip. A young Lebanese singer who quotes Bob Marley?s ?Redemption Song.? They are as representative of the world of Islam today as the conservatives and extremists we see every night on the news. Heavy metal, punk, hip-hop, and reggae are each the music of protest, and in many cases considered immoral in the Muslim world. This music may also turn out to be the soundtrack of a revolution unfolding across that world.

Why, despite governmental attempts to control and censor them, do these musicians and fans keep playing and listening? Partly, of course, for the joy of self-expression, but also because, in this region, everything is political. In Heavy Metal Islam, Mark LeVine explores the influence of Western music on the Middle East through interviews with musicians and fans, introducing us young Muslims struggling to reconcile their religion with a passion for music and a desire for change. The result is a revealing tour of contemporary Islamic culture through the evolving music scene in the Middle East and Northern Africa. Heavy Metal Islam is a surprising, wildly entertaining foray into a historically authoritarian region where music just might be the true democratizing force.

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