Can Islam and Electronica marry?

October 23, 2003 7:31 PM

Can Islam and Electronica co-exist? Listen to a wonderful track named "Semitones In Darkness" by Subtonal and Fresh Moods from BBC Radio 1's Blue Room this week (Min. 5). You'll hear what Muslims normally say when they are praying: "al-Fatiha" (The Opening), the first chapter of Quran.
posted by hoder (12 comments total)

Muslingauze
posted by inpHilltr8r at 8:16 PM on October 23, 2003

s/n/m
You ever have one of those moments where time slows down to a crawl...?
posted by inpHilltr8r at 8:17 PM on October 23, 2003

i gave it a 5 dick, it's got a good beat and you can dance to it.
posted by quonsar at 9:01 PM on October 23, 2003

i mean, a five, dick.
posted by quonsar at 9:05 PM on October 23, 2003

The audio link led me to a registration form written in German, with a 3-day manual processing turnaround.
posted by eddydamascene at 9:14 PM on October 23, 2003

Alternate source (real/mp3).
posted by eddydamascene at 9:30 PM on October 23, 2003

i don't see what the big deal is; electronic music frequently has various non-english chants for vocals, correct?
posted by reverendX at 9:49 PM on October 23, 2003

mos def's album black on both sides also opens with the very first part of al-fatiha. To say nothing of Queen's Bohemian Rahpsody. :)
posted by chaz at 9:52 PM on October 23, 2003

Erm, hang on a second, let me get my annoying music-geek hat on... there, yep, there we go. Alright, slap on the ole' spelling warden brown-shirt, and we're set to go.

Muslimguaze.

With an M. Two, actually.

Ok, you can punch me in the face now.
posted by dvdg at 7:12 AM on October 24, 2003

Don't forget that Eno and Byrne set the chanting of the Quran to "electronica" (and got plenty of heat for it, too) back when they were essentially inventing the genre.

Don't give me grief. I said "essentially."
posted by soyjoy at 8:12 AM on October 24, 2003

How are we defining Islam here? Because there's a hell of a lot of stuff out there that references Islamic culture or quotes the Quran. If we're talking about electronic music made in the Islamic world that directly addresses religion, the field narrows considerably.

And for reference, Muslimgauze doesn't fall in the latter category. He was only a strong supporter of the Palestineans, to my knowledge.
posted by mikeh at 11:58 AM on October 24, 2003

I know I'm a little late, but let me just say: terrible music.
posted by delmoi at 4:18 PM on October 26, 2003