This latest book by Mark LeVine combines the two above subjects. Heavy Metal Islam: Rock, Resistance, and the Struggle for the Soul of Islam is the full title.
The NYT sates that the book: gets trapped by its good intentions whenever it attempts to shoehorn the headbangers intransigence into preconceived political slots. Metal music, however you parse it, is dystopian in the extreme: hyper aggressively embracing the death instinct, regimented chaos, deliriously fetishized morbidity.
Here is the product description:
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 Marleys 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.
Three Rivers Press is the publisher. Read the review here .
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