Taqwacore

Taqwa - (Arabic: التقوى‎ at-taqwá) is the Islamic concept of "God-consciousness".

Core - (from Hardcore) is a subgenre of punk rock that's generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock.

As humans, we need labels in order to describe things and have some kind of order in the world we live in. However, when it comes to music, labelling can become patently absurd. It seems like every genre of music has multiple off-shoots and for the outsider it can often be totally confusing to try and work your way through a maze of descriptive names. The metal and punk scenes in particular have a bewildering number of labels - how about hardcore, hardline, street punk, grunge, metalcore, D-Beat, post-hardcore, emo, screamo, thrashcore, grindcore, sludge metal, crust punk or even anarcho-punk?

If that's not enough then how about desi-punk, bollywood punk, raicore or punk islam? All of these terms are real and the ones in the last sentence all fall under the taqwacore genre that is attracting a lot of attention, in particular in the USA. If I wasn't short of time and trying to get this blog entry together then I would probably think up a few terms of my own although I'm certain that someone like the satirists Chris Morris or Armando Iannucci could do a lot better than my efforts.

While it starts to get quite laughable with all of these often quite ridiculous labels, the taqwacore genre is definitely worthy of attention as there are some quite interesting things happening in this scene.

The word first came to light following Michael Muhammad Knight's 2003 novel "The Taqwacores". The book depicted a fictitious islamic punk scene and was published by Alternative Tentacles, the record label founded by Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys. The book has now been adapted into a film which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. Another film, the documentary "Taqwacore: The Birth of Punk Islam" was released in 2009 and followed a number of bands who have become associated with the scene.

The taqwacore genre is essentially a number of bands that have some sort of connection to islam, whether by faith or by sympathising with the plight of oppressed Muslims in the world today, for example through opposition to the so-called war on terror. Three of The Kominas are all of Pakistani Muslim origin and one of Bengali origin, whereas the members of Al Thawra include a Syrian-Polish American, a Hispanic American and an indigenous white American.

When I asked these two bands what they thought of the term taqwacore, they explained that it is both a blessing and a curse. The name doesn't actually really mean anything at all, like most of these musical labels, although they accept that the publicity that has been gained over the last few years has been essential for them to survive as bands and gain a following.

The fusion of punk and islam is indeed a fascinating concoction and they both have definite things in common. Both believe in social justice and speak out against the ills of society. They also started out as vibrant movements that have often become fossilised and stale at times. As a Muslim myself, I passionately believe in the humanitarian aspects of my faith and that justice and mercy are at the heart of what I stand for. Unfortunately, some muslims, like members of all faiths, have committed, and continue to commit, heinous crimes against our fellow members of humanity. These are people and actions that I totally oppose and refuse to defend.

Before I entered my teens I was seduced by the emerging UK punk movement and since then my life has continued to be influenced by those early years of the music, even though I rarely listen to much punk these days. The years between 1976 and 1979 in particular were an oasis of creativity and an almost never-ending period of excitement. I was inspired enough to teach myself guitar and had formed my first punk group at the age of thirteen and played my first gig at fifteen. I could not have hoped for better formative years of my youth, especially with a parallel soundtrack of reggae, the music that would guide my life for the following decades.

There have been precedents to this fusion already. Back in the late 1970s there was a British Asian punk group called Alien Kulture and Bradistan's own son Aki Nawaz was part of Southern Death Cult and then the leader of the highly-politicised and often-inspiring Fun-Da-Mental.

The other common element of punk and islam is that both sets of followers have been vilified and attacked for being different. It is our diversity as people that makes our societies vibrant and interesting. The contributions of both punk and islamic peoples to western civilisation and culture can never be underestimated.

From a purely musical perspective, all that really matters in the end is whether the music is any good. Some of the taqwacore stuff plainly isn't that good, often being quite rudimentary punk with some islamic imagery but not played that well to really grab attention. However, two bands that do stand out are the ones that recently visited the UK and did a short tour - The Kominas and Al Thawra. I met up with both of them during their visit and had the opportunity to talk to them and also do photoshoots. In forthcoming blog entries, I will feature these two bands, their music and also give more thoughts about taqwacore. In the meantime, here is the trailer for the movie "Taqwacore: The Birth of Punk Islam".