Music

Protesting Rapper’s Video Foretelling Iranian Regime’s Future Leads To Arrest As Fans Fear For His Life

( RFE?RL ) – Toomaj Salehi’s lyrical support for protesters in Iran has landed him behind bars before, but this time the popular rapper’s fortune-telling has fans and family members fearing for his life. Just days before his September 30 arrest, the 32-year-old Salehi released his latest music video, in which he makes foreboding predictions […]

African-Americans

With his Dangerous Antisemitism and Racist Stereotypes, Ye has made himself a MAGA Patsy

H. Scott Prosterman

Oakland, Ca. (Special to Informed Comment) – Kanye West, who now goes by just “Ye,” has transformed himself from a global rap and fashion icon, into a useful idiot for Donald Trump and the MAGA movement. What he did not realize is that rich, powerful white men like Trump are routinely forgiven their racism by […]

Entertainment

Justin Bieber and Others Should Speak Out on Human Rights at Saudi Arabia’s Grand Prix

Human Rights Watch

Jason Derulo, A$AP Rocky Also Among Celebrities Slated to Perform

Entertainment

As Boteach comes for Dua Lipa, has Tactic of Smearing People as anti-Semites for Backing Palestinian Human Rights jumped the Shark?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Orthodox Rabbi Shmuely Boteach has come after the brilliant, Grammy-award-winning Kosovar-British pop star Dua Lipa with an ad in the New York Times accusing her of anti-Semitism for supporting Palestinian rights. She vigorously denied the charge and denounced the ad. She should also sue for libel. Boteach is a huge […]

Culture

Kanye West Offends Muslims by appropriating Angels of Death and Resurrection for his Sneaker Lines

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Muslim twittersphere was on fire this week with the news that Kanye West’s Adidas lines would offer two new sneakers, Yeezy Boost 350 V2 Israfil and Yeezy Boost 350 V2 Asriel. Israfil and Azrael are angels in the Islamic tradition. According to Dubai-based Alarabya, many Muslims found the names […]

Culture

Leon Fleisher – the Pianist Who Reinvented Himself and Inspired the World

Shamai Leibowitz

It was a sad day for the music world when we heard that concert pianist, conductor, and teacher par excellence Leon Fleisher died on August 2 at the age of 92. But it’s also an opportunity to celebrate the legacy of a great musician who was an inspiration to countless music lovers and anyone struggling […]

Epidemics

Blues in the time of Pandemic, 1919 — “In a few days influenza would be controlled”

Shalom Goldman

Middlebury, Vt. (Special to Informed Comment) – The great influenza pandemic of 1918-19 , which raged in the aftermath of the 1914-18 World War, killed and incapacitated over 50 million people worldwide. In the U.S. over 600, 000 people died in the pandemic. Survivors of that pandemic have left us a rich cultural legacy , […]

Entertainment

Arif “The Greatest Ears in Town” Mardin: How a Turkish Muslim Nurtured the Music of Aretha Franklin, Dione Warwick, and Nora Jones

Shalom Goldman

Middlebury, VT (Special to Informed Comment) – In the mid-twentieth century many American jazz musicians converted to Islam . Some took Muslim names ( Ahmed Jamal and Yusef Lateef) ; others identified as Muslim but kept their Christian names (Art Blakey, McCoy Tyner). These musicians helped shape the sound of American music and no less […]

African-Americans

How Turkish Muslims at Atlantic Records Marketed Motown, Jazz, Black Music to America

Shalom Goldman

(Special to Informed Comment) – To those outside of the music business the title, “The House that Ahmet Built” might sound like the name of a Turkish folktale for children. But for those in the know, the ‘house’ was Atlantic Records and ‘Ahmet’ was Ahmet Ertegun, the great record company’s co-founder. In 1947 along with […]