Aki Nawaz

Aki Nawaz (born Haq Nawaz Quereishi) a.k.a. Aki-Stani, Righteous Preacher and Propa-Gandhi is a British singer and musician, part of the band Fun-Da-Mental. He is best known for his controversial lyrics relating to immorality in the west. Nawaz grew up in Bradford, England, his parents were Pakistani immigrants who arrived in England in 1964.

In the 1980s, using his proper name Haq Qureshi, he played drums with the gothic rock band Southern Death Cult, a forerunner to The Cult, featuring Ian Astbury on vocals. When Astbury moved on to found his own band, the remaining musicians stayed together for a time as Getting the Fear, recruiting new singer Bee Hampshire from Futon, but eventually broke up. In 1986, Nawaz moved to London set up a management company and signed artists to major record labels. Two years later, he formed Nation Records as a label primarily focused on creating fusions between different musical forms from all over the world for a more youth-oriented audience.^[1] Changing musical genres, Nawaz went on to found the Islamic rap group Fun-Da-Mental in 1991 which recorded for Nation Records. He was the group's leader and most visible rapper.

Nawaz advocates a certain Islamic orthopraxy, expressing total opposition to alcohol and drug usage. He believed that there should be a unity between Afro-Caribbeans and Asians because he believed that the struggles that the two groups face are exactly the same. Through his music, Nawaz attempts to "normalize" the Islamic presence in Britain as well as to explain the reasons for fundamentalist tendencies among Muslim youth. ^[2] Nawaz's music is also influential because he is able to relate to the Muslim youth living in Britain. His music allowed the Muslim youth culture to take pride in their religious beliefs at a time when many of their British counterparts would discriminate against them for their practices. As Swedenberg notes, "Fun-Da-Mental's expressions of pride in Islam appealed to Muslim youth who had been raised on British popular culture yet also felt wounded by British Islamophobia and the racist overtones of the Salman Rushdie affair." ^[3] In addition to further enabling Muslim youth to accept their place in Europe as people who practice Islam and are a part of British culture, Nawaz also has collaborated with many traditional musicians not just in studio but also live. Some examples include: Huun Huur Tu, Rizwan Muazzam Qawwal- Mighty, Zulu Nation (a South African hip-hop group), and Gazi Khan (an artist from Rajasthan).^[1]

In 2006, when their record All is War was about to be released through his own Nation Records, two company directors from his distributor Beggar's Banquet Records, Martin Mills and Andrew Heath, threatened to resign. The record was finally released on August 7th 2006 as a download album, with a retail release on the Five Uncivilised Tribes label to follow.

Also that year, Nawaz set up the Muslim Defence League to combat the current climate of demonisation of a community, with active outspoken approaches on racism issues.^[1] Additionally, Fun-Da-Mental worked with progressive Asian bands to help fight racism, and perform and deliver speeches at anti-racist benefits. The group emphasizes militancy and self-defense as weapons against racism.^[4]

Nawaz has been criticized by Islamic community members not only for the use of controversial lyrics, but also for his group Fun-Da-Mental's chanting of phrases from the Qur'an over musical beats. This goes against a fundamental tenet of Islam, and is forbidden for orthodox Muslims. In this sense, Nawaz's musical contributions are considered controversial for their lyrics as well as for their religious content ^[5]Nawaz claims he is prepared to face the consequences of any of his albums' releases, saying, "I'll take all the blame. If they're going to lock anyone up they'll lock me up." ^[6]

Controversial lyrics

The controversy behind "All is War" lies in its lyrics, which can be interpreted as glorifying terrorism. One of the songs, "Cookbook DIY," (lyrics excerpted below) – the song's title being likely a reference to The Anarchist Cookbook – includes instructions for making a home made bomb, the video to this song makes many visual references to America. The video ends with a quote from JFK written on a wall which says: "If we make peaceful revolution impossible, we make violent revolution inevitable." Nawaz purposefully uses controversial lyrics as he tries to "shake up" youths and whites into consciousness by implying that fundamentalist tendencies are a result of racism and oppression^[7].

"Cookbook DIY" excerpts:

"I've packed up my ingredients stacked up my laptop / downloaded the military cookbook pdf / elements everyday chemicals at my reach / household bleach to extract the potassium / chlorate boiling on a hot plate with hate / recipe for disaster plastic bomb blaster / i mix up 5 parts wax to vaseline / slowly...dissolve in gasoline / add to potassium in a large metal bowl / knead like dough so they bleed real slow / gasoline evaporates...cool dry place..." (...)

"I insist, i'm a legitimate scientist / paid by the government with your finances / i got a private room in the white house suite / so i can develop according to presidential brief / the megaton don gulf war veteran / the foremost proponent of the neutron bomb / at the centre atomic surrounded on all sides / wrapped in layers of lithium deutaride / the bomb detonates causing lithium to fission into helium / tritium neutrons into fission / The blast causes shockwaves that melt body fat / uniquely though it leaves the buildings intact..."

"I'm strapped up cross my chest bomb belt attached / Deeply satisfied with the plan I hatched / Electrodes connected to a gas cooker lighter"

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Nawaz at Indianaelectronica
^ Swedenburg, Ted. "Islamic Hip-hop vs. Islamophobia." In Global Noise: Rap and Hip-Hop Outside the USA, 57-85. Middletown: Wesleyan University Press, 2001.
^ Swedenburg, Ted. "Islamic Hip-hop vs. Islamophobia." In Global Noise: Rap and Hip-Hop Outside the USA, 58. Middletown: Wesleyan University Press, 2001.
^ Swedenburg, Ted. "Islamic Hip-hop vs. Islamophobia."
^ Swedenburg, Ted. "Islamic Hip-hop vs. Islamophobia." In Global Noise: Rap and Hip-Hop Outside the USA, 57-85. Middletown: Wesleyan University Press, 2001.
^ The rapper who likens Bin Laden to Che Guevara
^ Hesmondhalgh, David and Caspar Melville. "Urban Breakbeat Culture: Repercussions of Hip-Hop in the United Kingdom." In Global Noise: Rap and Hip-Hop Outside the USA, 86-110. Middletown: Wesleyan University Press, 2001.

External links

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[indianelectronica.com-1] Nawaz at Indianaelectronica

[2] Swedenburg, Ted. "Islamic Hip-hop vs. Islamophobia." In Global Noise: Rap and Hip-Hop Outside the USA, 57-85. Middletown: Wesleyan University Press, 2001.

[3] Swedenburg, Ted. "Islamic Hip-hop vs. Islamophobia." In Global Noise: Rap and Hip-Hop Outside the USA, 58. Middletown: Wesleyan University Press, 2001.

[4] Swedenburg, Ted. "Islamic Hip-hop vs. Islamophobia."

[5] Swedenburg, Ted. "Islamic Hip-hop vs. Islamophobia." In Global Noise: Rap and Hip-Hop Outside the USA, 57-85. Middletown: Wesleyan University Press, 2001.

[6] The rapper who likens Bin Laden to Che Guevara

[7] Hesmondhalgh, David and Caspar Melville. "Urban Breakbeat Culture: Repercussions of Hip-Hop in the United Kingdom." In Global Noise: Rap and Hip-Hop Outside the USA, 86-110. Middletown: Wesleyan University Press, 2001.

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