(Informed Comment) – In 1948 rumors spread that jazz trumpet great Dizzy Gillespie was considering converting to Islam. Gillespie told journalists that the important religious issue for him was not the success of another religion but the failure of Christianity. “Don’t say I’m forsaking Christianity, Christianity is forsaking me, or better, people who claim to […]
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Music
Forget Politics: The Joys of Iran’s Traditional Music
By Darius Sepehri | – Weaving through the rooms of my Brisbane childhood home, carried on the languid, humid, sub-tropical air, was the sound of an Iranian tenor singing 800-year old Persian poems of love. I was in primary school, playing cricket in the streets, riding a BMX with the other boys, stuck at home […]
Islam, the Oud and American Jazz Prodigy Ahmed Abdul-Malik
(Informed Comment) – On John Coltrane’s breakthrough album Live at the Village Vanguard album (1961) there were many musical innovations, and the sound of an instrument new to jazz, the oud. The oud, staple of Middle Eastern music – and ancestor of the lute and guitar – was played by Coltrane’s bassist, Ahmed Abdul-Malik. Just […]
Jazz Great John Coltrane and the Enchantment of Islam
(Informed Comment) – In his childhood and youth in rural North Carolina John Coltrane absorbed the musical traditions of African-American worship. His parents were active in the local African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. John’s paternal grandfather was a minister in that church and John’s mother sang and played piano in the gospel choir. In 1943 […]
Dunked On’em: Nicki Minaj Pulls out of Saudi Concert over Women’s, LGBTQ, Free Speech Rights
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Trinidadian-American rap superstar Onika Tanya Maraj, known as “Nicki Minaj” has pulled out of Jidda World Fest scheduled in Saudi Arabia for July 15. She issued a statement: “While I want nothing more than to bring my show to fans in Saudi Arabia, after better educating myself on the issues, […]
How Muslim-Americans Helped Create Modern Jazz
Art Blakey (in 1947) and and Ahmad Jamal (in 1959) traveled to North Africa to study Islam
Top 7 Signs Willie Nelson Might not be a Republican (That’s ‘TeaPot Party,’ not Tea Party)
“Christians everywhere should be up in arms,” Nelson said about Trump border family separation policy
Aretha Franklin’s Reminder to Trump Era: Women, Minorities, Humans owed R E S P E C T (Video)
The Guardian: “Aretha Franklin, who has died at the age of 76, reflects on her 1967 cover hit Respect in a collection of archive clips. The queen of soul discusses how she and her sister injected Otis Redding’s song with their own twist and its subsequent use as a ‘battle cry’ and ‘women’s anthem’ 1. […]
Rumors of Shakira Israel Concert Cancellation called Incorrect
The initial news was carried widely, including by the Jerusalem Post
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