It’s time that the Muslims meet other faiths half-way.

Salman Ahmed is the guitarist for Junoon, the Paki-pop band. So wait a minute, it was only when he saw Jimmy Page of Led Zep that he had his epiphany? What about the 8 years of listening to Zep’s music? That didn’t do for him apparently. This sounds like a wonderful straight-to-TV prime-time special on ZTV.

Soon enough, Salman traded in his stethoscope for an electric guitar. If Led Zeppelin frontmen Jimmy Page and Robert Plant immersed themselves in the blues, Salman studied with the Pakistani musical legend Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, who coming from the opposite trajectory offered a similar message of harmony and brotherhood.

I’m so not-convinced that Salman studied with Nusrat. Now that NFAK is dead, heck, even I can claim that I cooked mutton curry for NFAK.

The other one of us – Mark LeVine – is a New Yorker born in New Jersey. For him, hearing Led Zeppelin as a young child initiated a lifelong love affair with the music and cultures of the Muslim world.

Mark Levine is the ghora bassist of Junoon. He is the total token white boy, but I give him props for liking Zep. Anyways, what does Zep have anything to do with Muslim music? Pardon me, I know everything there is to know about Zep since the time I first listened to them in ’88. They are a very Celticy band, and they happened to have had Indic-sounding songs (Black Mountain Side, White Summer, Kashmir). If Zep initiated his love of Muslim culture/music, than Weezie Jefferson will make him want to eat food on banana leaves.

Most rock legends mined the blues. But the bends in Page’s guitar solos and Plant’s vocal melodies stretched beyond the “blue” of such greats as Johnny Copeland and Dr. John (with whom Mark was fortunate to perform as a young guitarist). In Led Zeppelin’s music, there were hints of the Arabic ruba’, or quarter tone, and Persian koron, or neutral third.

I have a feeling that Dr. John is also dead, and hence this passage is unverifiable. Oh yeah, my dad played guitar with Hendrix. My opinion is that if anyone wants to hear hints of Arabic ruba (actually he maybe referring to the Afghanistani instrument), quarter tones (which is found in all music which has a vibrato in it – i.e. vocal, bended guitar strings, harmonica, tuba, etc.), neutral thirds in Zep’s music, than you’ll also be able to find these hints from your dryer…or Tupac…or Biggie. Neutral Third? I’m not aware of any Zep songs which this is prominent. If it’s prominent in Zep, than it’s prominent with the Back Street Boys!

The soaring minor and major scales that Plant and Page embellish in songs such as “Kashmir,” “Going to California,” “Four Sticks,” and “Friends in the Light” [sic] are, to our ears, drawn from traditional vocalizations of qawwali, a Pakistani form of Sufi devotional music.

NOTE: This is supposed to read “Friends”, and “In the Light”…. Anyways, “Kashmir” is an Indic sounding song. None of the other songs are Indic (or “Muslim”). Ironically, the song “Kashmir” can’t be played in many parts of Kashmir. If Salman is amazed at Jimmy Page’s use of a microtone, than he should be Sufi-heaven with 72 flavors of ice-cream when he listens to Dr. Dre.

Led Zeppelin’s ability to move between Western and Muslim cultures was evident when Page and Plant went to Morocco to record songs for their 1994 “No Quarter” album and DVD. Finding musicians performing in a market in Marrakesh, Page and Plant were able to bond with them musically – and with an immediacy that produced some of the albums most alluring tracks, such as “Yallah” and “City Don’t Cry.”

Led Zeppelin does NOT equal to Page and Plants ’94 recording. Zep ended in ’80. Page/Plants ’94 tour didn’t feature John Bonham (he died just after I taught him how to play double bass) or John Paul Jones.

Today’s Muslim rock and heavy metal artists, in turn, have been powerfully influenced by Led Zeppelin. The band’s music echoes their own history and culture, helping them create new hybrids of rock, metal, and Islam, and through it, some of the world’s lushest, and most innovative and powerful rock ‘n’ roll.

It can be re-written as: “Today’s rock and heavy metal artists…” Jimmy Page affected Parsis (i.e. Freddie M.), Hindus (i.e. Kim Thayil who can kick Salman’s kundi to Sufi 72), Jews (i.e. Beastie Boys sampled Page), etc.

It’s about time the world starts listening; the next Led Zeppelin is as likely to come from Casablanca, Cairo, or Karachi as it is from London or New York.

I think that you’re more likely to see the people of these great cities more likely to design a lead zeppelin, given that their science hasn’t evolved much in the last 1350 years or so. In many cities of Pakistan, music is banned. Salman actually came on NPR talking about how the mullah’s prayers are actually musical since they are in a minor musical mode.

I believe that Salman is such a philosopical-Renaissance-Man-wannabe poseur. He probably also is a vegetarian just so chicks think that he’s sensitive and cute. He probably gets all the chicks… I can’t stand him…

Thats true.

Razib did you happen to see Scott Atran in Beyond Belief 2 who gave a rather novel presentation on the pathologies of European terrorism.

Interesting numbers.

There have been some studies which show that even though a non-significant number of Americans are ok with the death penalty, only a very few of them would be willing to take the job of an executioner. Likewise, few Muslims in the 36% would actually take the steps to kill an apostate even if it were legal to do so. Of course wide spread acceptance of the notion of killing apostates is going to posion any community and will evetually lead to more intolerance in issues of religious practice. I need to look it up but Scott Atran has some very interesting numbers comparing the views of Muslims in Europe and Christians in the US and their similarities.

because the major factors, israel, relationship with oil kleptocracies, isn’t something anyone in america will change. the israel lobby is too powerful. muslims aren’t powerful and we can still modify the immigration stream or persuade community leaders. non-muslims don’t care about these sorts of injustices, just as muslims don’t care too much about the famine and genocide in the congo, so the way to minimize conflict is simply to minimize the impact of those who care.

Amen brother.

no, muslims are to blame. it is fundamentally irrelevant that muslims believe they have cause, the problem is that when you import a group with world wide connections you import their interests. the same arguments used with jews apply to muslims. any nation with a large muslim and jewish population is going to have to deal with proxy political wrangling between these two groups. that’s why i encourage jews to secularize and muslims to make their religion like a protestant denomination.

Really anything? Can you justify eating humans from the Quran? Can you read the Quran and justify idol worship? Having sex with your mother?

yes, i probably could. you can work by analogy.

So do the 64% that don’t beleive you should kill apostates. If I said that the 64% beleived that because of Islam, you would say “No.” However, the 36% you go on and say “Islam” needs to change. You can’t have it both ways.

what about a statistical distribution don’t you understand? that’s why linked to the definition of apodictic. i assume you read it?

Whats the numbers of Muslims in the UK acting on these beleifs? (Harassing former Muslims, harassing non-Muslims in general for criticisin Islam). Do you have any stats?

no, i am curious as to stats. the only things you have are stories from sensationalizing press and those who claim that all is well and muslims are a religion of peace so that it isn’t about religion but domestic violence.

I HAVE, YOU SIMPLY NEVER READ THOSE POSTS!!! why do you never read ALL my posts so you can characterize me with accuracy? http://www.gnxp.com/blog/2006/08/dying-to-win.php