When the opening credits rolled on the world premiere of “The Taqwacores” in Park City, Utah on January 24, the audience roared with cheers as The Kominas’ “Sharia Law in the USA” blasted over the speakers. Though some in attendance had only heard about the film at the Sundance Film Festival, those of us screaming had traveled from all over the country for this, and the premiere party show featuring The Kominas, Al-Thawra, and Film Strip the following night. While some fans were there just to be part of the momentous occasion, others were there to document the event, like Tanzila Ahmed of Sepia Mutiny, who was blogging about the event onsite, and Kaitlin Foley and Britny DeAnda of Pop Sensation Productions, and hosts of the Cultureal Sindicate radio show.
I had been eagerly awaiting the release of this film since interviewing author Michael Muhammad Knight in October of 2008 during the movie’s shooting. The film is an adaptation of Knight’s novel, in which narrator Yusef’s (played by Bobby Naderi) traditional ideas of Islam are morphed after he moves into a house inhabited by punk Muslims. His roommates include Jehangir (Dominic Rains), the “Punjabi Tim Armstrong;” Rabeya (Noureen DeWulf), a band-patch covered burqa-clad riot girl with a mouth that shatters ideas about all hijabis being oppressed; straight edge Umar (Nav Mann); Indonesian skater Fasiq (Ian Tran); and Amazing Ayyub (Volkan Eryaman), a Shi’a with “Karbala” inked across his almost always shirtless chest. Other characters often occupy the house as well, like Rabeya’s friend Fatima (Rasika Mathur), and the flamboyant Muzzamil (Tony Yalda).
On Friday’s the graffitied house is host to prayer during the day and wild punk parties at night. Director Eyad Zahra and the performances by the incredibly talented cast do a phenomenal job of staying true to Knight’s book, which doesn’t push any specific ideology, but was written as a fantasy of the kind of mosque the convert could feel comfortable in after being wounded by the pressures of strict interpretations of Islam. The story is not meant to be any sort of manual to live by, but a thought-provoking piece that invites readers and audiences to express their ideas without fear of judgment.
Rains says of Knight, “I think Mike is the type of person [who is] not afraid to bring out things that look ugly, seem ugly, will be judged as ugly, but [is] able to pull beauty from it. I felt like a good part of Jehangir was an extension of Mike Knight. I’ve rarely met such a respectful, humble human being.”
Not everyone who sees “The Taqwacores” is going to get it, as was proved by the Question and Answer session after the film, when an audience member said that he felt Rabeya was not properly portrayed since he didn’t think a woman who would make the decision to wear niqab would have acted like Rabeya. Naderi says, “Some people are gonna take it the wrong way, and they’re gonna bring these negative ideas to it, and some people are gonna embrace it. It’s very extreme, but good extreme, I think…If you push something so far that way, it’s gonna balance out in the middle.”
The film’s soundtrack features more songs from The Kominas, and other taqwacore bands like Diacritical (now Sarmust), Secret Trial Five, Sagg Syndicate, and Al-Thawra, who make an appearance as themselves in the movie, along with Filmstrip, as bands on the bill of the taqwacore show at the film’s climax.
Because of its association with the novel, the real life taqwacore network of bands often get slapped with the “Muslim Punk” label, which, while not entirely inaccurate, generalizes to the point of missing the many nuances of this community. While Knight’s novel was definitely a catalyst for these musicians to connect, it’s not like they all decided to pick up instruments after reading the book. I recently got the opportunity to interview The Kominas, Al-Thawra, and Sarmust for Covers magazine, and, though this wasn’t mentioned in the article, each member of these bands has been playing music since they were in their teens.
These bands are the reason I embraced taqwacore. Though each group varies in musical style, each band embodies the fearless spirit of punk, without falling victim to its sometimes-contradictory rigid structure. The fact that taqwacore doesn’t have a sonic definition gives these bands the freedom to venture outside the boundaries of the three power chord song, and the music never loses its completely relevant aggression. As thrilled as I was to have the opportunity to be one of the first to see the film, I ultimately booked my ticket to Sundance because of the January 25th show with The Kominas, Al-Thawra, and Film Strip.
Film Strip opened the night. The group describes themselves on their Myspace as, “a band from Cleveland, Ohio made up of two brothers with white blood and an Arabic name (Matt and Dave Taha) who were raised by a catholic, a muslim, and a kuwaiti drop-out, and a guy (Nick Riley) who thinks Allah/God/Krisna/Buddah must be or have been, a drummer. But in reality they’re three Irish guys who are just happy that they don’t have to hang out with hippies anymore just to be around people who are into the musical AND the divine (insert you’re own interpretation, singular or plural here).” Their psychedelic punk sound warmed up the crowd as “SLC Punk” played on television screens around Park City’s Star Bar.
Al-Thawra kicked off their set with “The Lost and the Sandstorm,” off of their album “Who Benefits from War?” Now don’t get me wrong, the album of hardcore Black Flag and Discharge influenced hardcore sounds mixed with Middle Eastern time signatures and scales is nothing short of incendiary. But after seeing them live, I have to say that it does not do justice to Marwan Kamel (guitar/vocals), Mario Salazar (bass) and Micah Bezold’s (drums) talent. Maybe that’s because the only way to get the full effect of Al-Thawra’s heavy sound is with really loud amps.
Shortly after Al-Thawra, Rains jumped onstage to thank everyone involved with the film, and to introduce The Kominas, who recently added trumpet player Rechard Latham to the line-up of Basim Usmani (bass/vocals), Shahjehan Khan (guitar), Arjun Ray (guitar), and Imran Malik (drums). The band began their set with “Par Desi,” and continued to play nearly every song off of their debut, “Wild Nights in Guantanamo Bay,” as well as “Teri Assi Ki Tassi,” a song by the Dead Bhuttos, a former band of Usmani and Malik’s.
When Malik commented after the show that it was “the best set ever,” I am not exaggerating at all when I say I completely agree. Of the many shows I’ve attended, I’ve never felt such positive chaotic energy like I did in that room. Even the pit, which included cast, crew-members, and Mike Knight, and occasionally surrounded band members as they jumped from stage to floor, had a friendly vibe.
“Sharia Law in the USA,” the same song that began this whole adventure, closed The Kominas set, as I was wishing that the real life taqwacore community was based in my home state of California, as it is in the book, instead of spread out on mostly the East Coast and in the Midwest. I can’t predict what the reaction to taqwacore is going to be once this film is widely released. I’m sure it’s going to greatly vary among individuals, but I highly doubt it will be mostly indifferent. My only hope is that it inspires more bands to form because regardless of where taqwacore came from, the bands that have emerged so far are contributing a lot of really great music to the world. As Usmani puts it, “art is bigger than politics…art is everything.”
