Culture

By Sherene Idriss | – There is a long history of damaging stereotypes of Arab and Muslim men on screen. Because of this, audiences from culturally diverse migrant backgrounds understandably crave more positive representations of their ethnic and cultural communities. Two new screen productions – Ramy and Slam – tell stories embracing the complexity of […]

Islam

Jazz Great Yusef Lateef’s Journey to Islam

Shalom Goldman

“I want my music to awaken something that’s already in your heart.” (Informed Comment) – Among the hundred-plus African-American jazz musicians who embraced Islam in the mid-Twentieth Century, Yusuf Lateef, whose given name was William Huddleston, emerged as the elder statesman and spokesman of the group. One of the reasons was his remarkable longevity. Another […]

Music

Be-Bop to Bahai: The Spiritual Journey of Dizzy Gillespie

Shalom Goldman

(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 […]

Iran

Forget Politics: The Joys of Iran’s Traditional Music

The Conversation

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

Islam, the Oud and American Jazz Prodigy Ahmed Abdul-Malik

Shalom Goldman

(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 […]

Islam

Jazz Great John Coltrane and the Enchantment of Islam

Shalom Goldman

(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 […]

Dance

Dunked On’em: Nicki Minaj Pulls out of Saudi Concert over Women’s, LGBTQ, Free Speech Rights

Juan Cole

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, […]

film

How the New ‘Aladdin’ stacks up against a Century of Orientalist Hollywood Stereotyping

The Conversation

By Evelyn Alsultany |- Though critically acclaimed and widely beloved, the 1992 animated “Aladdin” feature had some serious issues with stereotyping. In the live-action ‘Aladdin,’ Mena Massoud stars Aladdin, while Will Smith plays the Genie. Daniel Smith/Walt Disney Pictures Disney wanted to avoid repeating these same problems in the live action version of “Aladdin,” which […]

Featured

Not Trump’s America: On How the Oscars looked Like the Real America this Year

Juan Cole

Cuarón: “”I want to thank the Academy for recognizing a film centered around an indigenous woman. One of the 70 million domestic workers in the world without work rights”