Muslim World Music Day

“The ARChive of Contemporary Music, the Arts Initiative at Columbia University, and Columbia University Libraries present an unprecedented collaborative project to catalog and celebrate the diversity, beauty and cultural importance of Muslim music.

Muslim World Music Day combines elements of an academic teach-in, a crash course, and a virtual town hall meeting with an innovative crowdsourcing process. A collection of individuals and institutions from a variety of disciplines will work together to create awareness and understanding of the chosen subject in a compressed time frame.

Muslim World Music Day will be a live online effort to identify and catalog all the recordings of Muslim music in the world, in one day. It will be a step towards making this culturally significant body of work readily available to people around the globe for study and enjoyment.”  Read more…

O Zefire with video and translation

This was originally a qasida called Banet Su’adu by the Prophet’s poet, Ka’b ibn Zuheir, written to express his love for him.  It was translated into Bosnian and adapted by Džemaludin Latif-zade el-Bosnevi, one of Bosnia’s best living poets.  I’ll write more about him in a later post, Ako Bog Da.

This video is of Halid Bešlić, you can also find the mp3 of Aziz Alili singing it – that version is more well-known -  here (mouse over “donload mp3,” then “ilahije i kaside,” and select “ilahije download/1.”  Scroll down a bit to look for Aziz Alili).  The text here in italics is the chorus.  Yes I am aware that he sings it a bit differently in this video, but I thought it was the best version   Poor guy was in an accident last year; that’s why his face is like that.

O Zefire

Ti si Sunce koje blista s nebeskih visina;

Drugi resuli su zvijezde što sjaje iz tmina.

O, zefire, kad poletiš do medinskih strana,

Poselami onog što ga moja duša sanja!

Ti si kao cvijet nježan, kao Mjesec ponosan,

Ti si more od ićrama, najljepši ti si san.

Kao sedef sjajni školjkin kada se rastvori,

Takav je tvoj osmijeh blagi kada progovoriš

Takav miris ne imadu ni zafran ni mošus

Kao zemljica što pokriva tvoje tijelo I kosu

Oh Breeze

You are a sun that beams from the lofty heavens

The other messengers are stars that shine from that

O, breeze, when you fly through Medina

Greet the one whom my soul dreams of!

You are like a tender blossom, like the proud moon,

You are a sea of generosity, the most beautiful dream

Like a brilliant white seashell when it opens,

So is your gracious smile when you speak

Such a scent has neither saffron nor musk

Like the fragrance of your body and hair

New albums from Tyson and Baraka Blue

I just wanted to direct your attention to two new albums by American Muslim musicians – Sound Heart by Baraka Blue and Year in the Life of Ty by Tyson Amir.  Both are excellent!  May God reward them and give them further success.  Here’s where you can buy them (or download them for free if you get there soon enough) and listen to the tracks.

Baraka Blue, from the Remarkable Current label

Tyson Amir’s bandcamp site

Videos from “Selam ya Resulallah”

From a concert in Sarajevo yesterday evening – which I missed    Thank you, youtube user Saninpe!

Hor Hazreti Hamza:  “Jecajem te zovem ja”

Gazel:  “Sad Te zovem ya Rahman”  (a cappella)

Hor Bedem and Miralem Babajić:  “Vejsel Karani”

Hor Kewser

Message from ISNA president Dr. Ingrid Mattson on the Haitian Earthquake | ISNA

Message from ISNA president Dr. Ingrid Mattson on the Haitian Earthquake | ISNA

It has been reported that a prominent Christian leader, Pat Robertson, has said that Haiti has been “cursed” by a “pact with the devil.” Fortunately, this is not the mainstream Christian position and my friend, the Reverend Paul Raushenbush, has rejected Robertson’s “blaming the victims” theology. Religious leaders must take a stance against extremist voices in their community, and I am glad to see Rev. Raushenbush respond to Robertson’s ridiculous and offensive suggestions.

As Muslims, we believe that human suffering is not always explainable or understandable. We do know that innocent people suffer all the time, from sickness and natural disaster, and that in such cases, we are required to do two things: First, pray and remember, as the Qur’an says that “to God we belong and to Him we return.” Second, we must help those who are suffering. The Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, reported in a Sacred Hadith that if we want to be close to God, we should visit the sick and feed the needy. On the Day of Resurrection, Allah will say, “O son of Adam, I fell ill and you did not visit me.” The person will say, “O Lord, how could I visit you when You are the Lord of the worlds?” He will say, “Did you not know that So-and-so fell ill and you did not visit him? If you had visited him, you would have found Me with him [the hadith continues].”

We realize from this hadith that the path to closeness with God is, after worship, service to humanity. Perhaps the most needy collectivity of people in the world today are the Haitians after enduring this terrible earthquake. Helping the Haitians in this time of need is certainly a sign of religious sincerity.

Read more…

For Dad

Had to post that picture!

Also, even though I think New Years is overrated, best wishes to everyone for 2010!

Checking in with a recipe

Not too much news right now.  I’m waiting for my Czech visa and a solid work schedule.

I’m in a food mood today!  I don’t have many new recipes to share but I’ve never posted my sarma (Bosnian stuffed cabbage leaves) recipe here, so here it is!