Y. Misdaq

Y. Misdaq aka Yoshi
photograph – Janine Storm van Leeuwen
Background information
Origin	Brighton, UK
Genres	Hip-hop, electronica, folk. Fiction, poetry, Non-Fiction. Observational documentary.
Instrument(s)	Samples, vocals, keyboard, guitar
Years active	2002–present
Labels	Nefisa UK
Website	yusufmisdaq.wordpress.com

Y. Misdaq aka Yoshi (born in Brighton, England) is a multimedia artist, writer, creative consultant, and is founder of the arts website Nefisa, which also doubles as an independent media label- Nefisa UK. Since 2004 he has released 4 LPs, 3 documentaries and 3 novels, and most recently has released a poetry series (6 separate volumes of poetry) as well as appearing on numerous works, either anonymously or under different pseudonyms as writer, filmmaker, and performer.

Y. Misdaq aka Yoshi has been featured in magazines like The WIRE, Hip-Hop Connection, Stylus, The Brighton Source, and numerous others. Upon the publication of his debut novel in June 2007, Misdaq's work was also featured on BBC Television & Radio. More recently he was featured on NPR in the United States. and PRI internationally.

Misdaq was also present in Benghazi at the onset of the 2011 Libyan civilian uprising against Muammar Ghadaffi, which he covered alongside Anjali Kamat for Democracy Now!.

Early stages of Nefisa UK

An ethnic Zazai Pashtun Y. Misdaq was born and raised in Brighton on the south coast of England. His father, Dr. Nabi Misdaq, is an eminent scholar and author on the social and political history of Afghanistan and was also head of the BBC World Service Pashto Section – which he founded – for a decade in the 1990s. His mother, Arian Misdaq, also an Afghan originally from Kabul, is a psychoanalyst specialising in multi-cultural counselling, working with CMHS.

In 2002 he began Nefisa, a somewhat amorphous arts collective which featured frequent updates and comment on creative, spiritual and political topics by Misdaq. It also featured the early work of many other artists including Julia Clark-Lowes who went on to form The Pipettes and later The Indelicates, San Francisco graffiti artist Daniel Cordani, avante-garde musician and erstwhile Hollywood film composer MichL Britsch amongst others. Misdaq frequently used the website to comment upon immediate news-events such as the Iraq War, the 7/7 bombings of London and the Danish cartoon controversy – for which Misdaq wrote a combined short-story and article which was spread widely across the internet in the days following the initial reaction. It was similarly a small creatively tinged hub for community action such as annual soup-drives for the homeless of the city of Brighton and anti-war marches in both Brighton and London alike. Misdaq spoke at length about Nefisa in a 2011 interview with the UK's Radical Middle Way. "It was [also] pretty special in that it was a precursor to myspace and facebook, each artist I featured would have their own profiles, one photograph only; they listed their influences and such, but crucially, they also had their own galleries of ongoing work… So that gave certain artists the feeling that their creative output had a potential audience, and this in itself was a meaning-giver for a lot of those artists, crucial to a few of them. So, you could say it was a committedly non-commercial variant of a social network, with deeper social implications. If all of today's trendy technologies truly encouraged people's innate creativity, instead of just talking like they do, then that would be great." In 2007, after five years of operation, Nefisa UK ceased as a blog/showcase and energies were focused solely on its capacity as a media label.

Music

Solo LP's

From a Western Box

(Released 5 March 2004)

His music debut, 'From a Western Box' (released on Nefisa UK) is described as political hip-hop fused with electronica and was well received by the underground music & arts press. A PRI radio show called 'Taking on the Taliban' also featured the title track when it aired in the usa, November 2009.

It was described by the now-defunct alternative culture magazine Punk Planet as,

"An effortless combination of electronica, hip-hop & the stylised mood of ambient... Tight tracks with smart vocal infusions and political narratives." (Sep/Oct issue #63)."

UK Hip-Hop also reviewed the album, claiming it was,

"What hip-hop always was about, appropriating and re-interpreting the heritage of the old-school."

Finally, Stylus Magazine's Nick Southall wrote,

"Yoshi comes from a world where Sergio Leone, the RZA, anti-establishment politics, Middle Eastern strife, ambient Hip Hop, Akira Kurosawa and potent skunk exist in harmony...Managing to sound both ominous and chilled at the same time, this is obviously a deeply personal record about skewed perspectives, about looking at the UK from its marginal areas and wondering whether you're a part of it." (Nick Southall)

Track-Listing

1. "Tears from a Box (Intro)" – 0:51
2. "The Sickness (Digital Living)" – 4:42
3. "A'salaam Alaikum, How Do U Do?" – 4:16
4. "Idol Smash" – 3:53
5. "Karzai Splits" – 1:05
6. "My View" – 3:23
7. "Sunline" – 5:32
8. "From a Western Box" – 5:03
9. "Guantanamo Convo (Skit)" – 0:38
10. "Misty" – 7:32
11. "Nightmare on Terror" – 4:04
12. "Untitled Hidden Track" – 4:09

Flowers & Trees

(Released 17 May 2005)

Second release 'Flowers & Trees' (also released on Nefisa UK) was considerably more positive and also slightly more traditional in terms of the hip-hop tracks featured. Just like his debut, 'Flowers & Trees' also contained an almost equal-split between instrumental songs and vocal ones. This album was also notorious for being marketed with a free piece of nature inside the CD-case, which online customers could choose from (such choices as white-flowers, cherry-blossoms, grass and even oxygen were available).

The WIRE Magazine said that Yoshi's,

"Art, as well as his heart, is in the right place."

While also praising his

"Lateral sound leaps and abrupt left-turns."

Hip-Hop Connection's Adam Anonymous, gave 'Flowers & Trees' 4 out of 5 Stars, beating off competition from the likes of Snoop Dogg with the highest rating that month.

"Brighton-born Yoshi is a real one-man DIY operation, thankfully without ever compromising quality... Marrying DJ Shadow's aural patchwork approach with Danger Mouse's disregard for sample chiefing, Yoshi is patently enjoying complete freedom of sound... Beautiful."

Yoshi played the album tracks live on many occasions, playing in Brighton at the Pav Tav, Engine Rooms, Enigma, London in Richmond, and the Ritzy Cinema in Brixton and at the International Convention Centre, Birmingham amongst others. The title track was also played on national radio through BBC Radio 1Xtra in June 2005.

Track-Listing

1. "Planting a Seed" – 3:41
2. "When U See The Future" – 5:03
3. "Dami / The Beautiful Truth" – 3:57
4. "Dream" – 4:26
5. "'Scepter & Yoshi Talkin'" – 3:55
6. "Flowers & Trees" – 5:04
7. "Intermission" – 0:29
8. "The Funk" – 4:46
9. "Afghan Eagle" – 1:07
10. "Afghan Eagle Descending" – 4:17
11. "Under" – 1:13
12. "Bubbles Babies Magic" – 2:20
13. "No-one Can, Will" – 6:01
14. "Home (Hidden Track)" – 2:36

Maghreb, Isha & Space

(23 March 2010, CD)

Misdaq's third LP, coming some five years after his sophomore effort, signalled a somewhat dramatic evolution from his previous work. Maghreb Isha & Space (Arabic words connoting the sunset and evening prayers) combined numerous concepts of Islamic mysticism with abstract 'sections' of music, including live Afghan (and Western) folk-music, as well as that of the Far-East. Lyrically, it also deepened a fascination with 'wordlessness' in lyrics, with Misdaq citing the Cocteau Twins as an influence in this regard, on an interview available with the albums mini-site. Most of the LP was recorded in single takes and with live instrumentation (as opposed to sampling) with Misdaq playing Harmonium, Rubab and Guitar and Gimbri on numerous songs, while largely for the first time, singing (his more staple delivery of MC'ing only featured on two songs). Like his debut LP, he also donated portions of the sales of this album to charity, this time to Afghan artisans via the Turquoise Mountain Foundation.

Misdaq dedicated the album to the avante-garde poet & novelist Lawrence Ytzakh Braithwaite who died in mysterious circumstances in 2008 (see 'Collaborations' for further elaboration).

The two videos accompanying the album (Dawn Song & Song of Delicious Affirmation) marked Misdaq's first officially released music videos, displaying prominent themes of Islamic spirituality, improvisational dance (often by Misdaq himself) and 'visual-sampling' from online sources such as YouTube.

Unlike past LP's, Maghreb Isha & Space, released considerably more quietly, does not appear to have received any 'official' reviews from magazines etc. In keeping with tradition, however, the albums bandcamp website does include comments and reviews from Yoshi fans and fellow musicians alike. Most notably, the Seattle avante-rap group Shabazz Palaces voice their enthusiasm, with frontman Palaceer Lazaro aka Ishmael Butler, saying that he listens to it a lot and likening the experience—somewhat cryptically—to "lilt and water."

Track-Listing

1. "Dawn Song" – 5:41
2. "Mika's Morning Song" – 2:20
3. "Enough is Enough Day (1st Prelude)" – 4:10
4. "Oma-Say, Oma-Sah, a Makusa (The Journalists, The Audience & The Artist)" –
5. "Freestyle in McDonalds" – 3:50
6. "Time Ain't on Your Side" – 3:46
7. "I am Alone (2nd Prelude)" – 2:46
8. "No Mystery" – 4:08
9. "Falling Asleep on the Ride Home (Happiness)" – 2:54
10. "Dream Suite: i) Toki / The Untangling ii) Song of Delicious Affirmation iii) Returning Dream about Eternity / The Stars in Space" – 9:41
11. "Love Song" – 5:14
12. "The Golden Circle (Binds with Love)" – 4:54

If You Ask Me, Yes

(Release Date unknown, expected 2012, CD)

Yoshi's 4th studio LP is the largest and most ambitious project to date. In July 2012, it became the first successful Kickstarter fundraising project for a contemporary Muslim artist, with Yusuf managing to raise over $5,000 from fans in less than 30 days. Consequently, 'Yes,' is also the first of Misdaq's albums to be recorded exclusively at an external recording studio (Cue Recording in Falls Church, Virginia). The album was made available as a digital pre-order on 1 February, and will be released on Valentines Day, 2013.

http://ymisdaq.bandcamp.com/album/if-you-ask-me-yes-2013

1. Rivers of Peace
2. Get Great
3. Siamese Connection
4. Cho Sun Dynasty Jewel
5. Garden of Delight
6. Don't Be Sad Ones
7. The tea-in-Manhattan-song is a great song
8. The City is a Golden Forest
9. Perfect
10. I am a Musician
11. i) Butterflies Believe in Peace because they Are Peace ii) World Disasters on the Increase circa 2010 iii) Down iv) Share!
12. The Life of Excitement
13. If You Asked me
14. Fountain Rap Spirit
15. Harmonica Freestyle
16. Here
17. Are You a Diamond-Studded Library?
18. Listen (Sound of the Divine)
19. Evolution

Collaborations, B-Sides & Uncredited Works

In 2004 Yoshi remixed a song by DJ Shadow, Blood on the Motorway (No More Bush-Fires – The Life Remix). According to the press-release of his debut album, this remains one of the more popular downloads on the official Solesides website, which features the song.

First and foremost have been his collaborations with Afghan-American Producer/MC Diamondscepter, who lent a beat and lyrics to Yoshi's debut, and also produced a track on 'Flowers & Trees', co-producing the title track. Since 2001 they had an online fan-page purportedly run by NBA basketball coach Jeff Van Gundy, who is a huge fan of their work as a duo. This was subsequently removed in 2009 when GeoCities stopped functioning.

Yoshi has worked on much of his more left-field music with Mikrosopht (aka Ben Kelley). On Mikrosopht's net-label Godxiliary, Yoshi contributed his lyrics and spoken-word vocals to the album C-WILD. Mikrosopht & Yoshi also released a duet-album in June 2007 called Dual Mule, on the Godxiliary imprint, which has the subtitle, 'experiments in improvisational sound'.

In 2008, Yoshi appeared with Mikrosopht and fellow producer/friend Michl Britsch (composer of Hollywood Soundtracks for the films CASE 139 and others), on a Beatles mash-up album entitled, 'Hippocamp Ruins Sgt. Peppers'. MichL Britsch further appears on Yoshi's 4th album, "If You Ask Me, Yes," as a multi-instrmentalist on the song, 'Here.'

Victrola (Victor Ramos) is a producer known primarily for his work in the Illinois Hip-Hop duo Mana Republic and has worked with Yoshi on various tracks. The only releases thus far have been the Victrola produced track on, 'The Hearing' (on which Yoshi raps) and Victrola's first solo EP, 'Flores, Nubes y Parajitos' on which Yoshi raps on the track, SubwayFN. On this track, Yoshi is said to be assuming the personality of a flower, while fellow MC J-Shillz personifies a cloud. This EP was released on the pioneering electronic music label Hippocamp [12].

Yoshi also wrote a chorus which was sung by two-members of the Pipettes (Becki & former, founding member, Julia) for his Flowers & Trees song, When U See The Future.

Uncredited appearances by Yoshi have been confirmed on Atom™'s LP 'Son of a Glitch') where he can be heard rapping verses on, the tracks 'Men in Black' and 'Monaural Moral'.

Misdaq's 2009 blog 'Palace Prayers' (later a basis for his poetry book 'The Beautiful / Palace Prayers', see below) – was an online blog that took place during the thirty days of ramadan in the same year. A blog entry was made each day under the pseudonym 'man in palace' – a fictitious character somewhat resembling a prince/artist. The blog contained songs, poetry, short-stories and video's edited by 'Man in Palace'.

The most popular poem, which was later circulated widely online, was 'Ramadhan 23' – a medium-length piece about the predicament of modern Moslems during ramadan, particularly their tendency to hold public iftars, with an emphasis on transforming them into modern social networking opportunities at the expense of their traditional function as highly intimate and spiritual occasions for faithful Moslems. The English poet and Rumi explicator Raficq Abdulla M.B.E. commented on this poem, "...it touches on the abiding need of all of us to be true to ourselves and therefore to reach a level of intimacy with ourselves that public posturing no matter how well meaning, can never attain."

Film-making and journalism

Soup for Thought

(2005)

A short-documentary by Y.Misdaq aka Yoshi, S. Windericxx & N. Karlsson, about a soup-kitchen providing for the homeless people of Brighton. This documentary was selected for a special screening at the 2005 Brighton Film-Festival in the Duke of York's Picture House.

Let the clouds of America burn Calligraphy onto my Frozen Heart

(2007)

A 15-minute documentary, filmed directed and edited by Y.Misdaq depicts the mental struggle of an artist in the midst of a creative block. It was first screened at Royal Holloway University of London in March 2007.

[No Title]

[No title] was included as a DVD with early editions of Misdaq's third LP Maghreb, Isha & Space, and apparently created at roughly the same time as the albums inception (circa cummer 2007). It was screened at the 6th World Islamic Economic Forum in Kuala Lumpur, and also at San Francisco's Culture Unplugged Film Festival where it is currently available to view online.

Misdaq was also present in Benghazi, Libya as cameraman, editor & producer for the news & current affairs program Democracy Now! during the shows in-the-field reporting at the outset of the Libyan civilian uprising in February/March 2011. Alongside Democracy Now presenter Anjali Kamut, he filed two stories, one on the exodus of African workers from Libya and the other a feature on an improvised Media Center constructed by the Libyan rebels.

Writing

Books

Pieces of a Paki: A Beautiful Story

(2007) Nefisa UK/University of Sussex press. ISBN 978-0-9555024-0-8

'Pieces of a paki' is the debut novel of Y.Misdaq aka Yoshi and is being published under his real name, Yusuf Misdaq, by Nefisa UK in association with the University of Sussex press. It is set in a near-future Britain and was featured briefly in the March edition of Emel magazine It is listed on Amazon as being, "A coming-of-age and Utopian/Dystopian novel rolled into one." British reviewers compared it favourably to Orwell's 1984 and Roald Dahl's Matilda, which underscore the genre-bending elements within the book. When asked by the Radical Middle way in 2011 what had originally inspired the book, Misdaq responded simply, "Losing out in love, travelling; wanting to write a book, not wanting to fail at that." The novel also predicted the creation of modified 'vitamin water,' which has, less than a decade later, come into the market.

Frozen Fountain

(2008). Art book.

A two-way collaboration with German photographer Harry Nizard, Frozen Fountain is the first book to contain Misdaq's poetry, set to the multi-layered photographs of Nizard. Highly abstract and somewhat open-ended both visually and textually, some themes explored include the inside universe, the nature of belief, beauty, the human body and lust. As of 2009 the book also became available to view online.

Narayan

(2007). Novel.

As yet unpublished, Narayan is Misdaq's second novel. It was nominated by Penguin for the 2011 Muslim Writers Award, also short-listed in the best unpublished novel category. According to Misdaq's website, "writing began on a train in September 2007 when Yusuf was leaving his London residence for the final time and returning to his hometown of Brighton. It was written in nine months and edited a year or so later. The story is set in Hounslow and is 'more real' than both 'Pieces of a paki' and the upcoming, 'Steep Ascent.'"

The Steep Ascent

(2010). Online book & novel.

The Steep Ascent, so named after an ayah from the Holy Quran, was an online project of Man in Gutter (aka Yusuf Misdaq) written during Ramadan 2010. The ambitious concept was to write an entire book during the month itself, which Misdaq completed, one chapter and one day at a time until day 29 where the story ended. Concordant with the title, the writing – which is a blend of both morality and extreme-satire – plays on several 'bad-guy' stereotypes, and draws heavily from the Quran and traditional forms of oral-culture, Sufi storytelling. Mo, a young rising star in an unnamed corporate world, befriends Asad, a hot dog vendor. At present the novel has been taken offline and listed as 'private' amidst rumours that it has been picked up for publication. The Steep Ascent has been picked up by UpSet Press (an independent publisher from New York City) and is slated for a 2013 publication.

Brighton Streets

(2010). Nefisa UK

The first in Misdaq's poetry series, which is a six-part series of poetry books apparently released in the order they were written. Amazon's description: "poems and short stories set in and about Brighton, UK, from a Brighton-born writer; taking on gentrification, class differences in the UK, fashion, creativity, pretentious art, vanity, increasing loneliness, ego, peace, spirituality, small English parks, birds, the imagination, young mothers, children, hopeful young newcomers to Brighton, the royal pavilion and the endless, endless ocean."

Into Solidity

(2011). Nefisa UK

A book of poems and illustrations, Into Solidity contains a foreword from the prominent Rumi explicator and poet Raficq Abdulla, Into Solidity appears to be part of a poetry series, likely the same one mentioned in the Reiger interview below (see collaborations). Misdaq is credited as author and illustrator and the cover features a striking painting. In the author's unusual preface there is an admission that the project was originally intended to be created with a hardback cover of ice, with translucent pages made of glass. It signals some of Misdaq's darkest work to date.

The Butterfly Gate

(2011). Nefisa UK

From Amazon: An ecstatic sequel to the Afghan author's more somber book, 'Into Solidity,' 'The Butterfly Gate' is a bright, explosive and georgeous collection of poems / hilarious illustrations by a slightly crazy writer who, despite operating on a totally mysterious and euphoric level, kindly makes us feel completely welcome as we navigate his sensual-spiritual stream of purple, laughing consciousness. As with the other works in this series, the readers will find themselves inundated with very human, unpretentious poetry that is ultimately, as the foreword informs us, a documentation of the soul as it attempts to break free from the body, without any proper 'guidelines'. To this end, the British-born author finds himself almost haunted by an impossible to place, 'East' which comes along every once in a while and teases, releasing scents of possible solution. The short stories included are in equal parts liberating, funny and mystical; much like the rest of the book, they leave us with a feeling of awe at our own unique human existence; happy strangers to our own skin, curious tourists to the possibilities of our own, fresh hearts. Inspirational, alive and, like a baby, softly kicking- 'The Butterfly Gate' is a wonderful depiction of sensual, problematic, delicious human LIFE!

Spilling Kingdoms

(2011). Nefisa UK

Spilling Kingdoms is the 4th book in the poetry series. It features a foreword from Ernest G. McClain, emeritus professor of music and notable mathematician. Amazon's description follows: With a foreword from mathematics genius and Music professor Ernest G. McClain, Spilling Kingdoms finds Misdaq the poet in full 'Englishman-in-America' mode, making for a journey both humorous and touching. Tinged with more than a little spiritual-searching, this fourth part is the deepest and most well-rounded of the series thus far, featuring poems that are at times fresh, fleeting and impressionistic, and at other times, heavy with a thundering and solid intent. What's it all about? Looking at a world from the eyes of a journeying traveller, realising how alien you are to it, and yet, magically and imperceptibly, coming to the realisation that it (and everything, everyone) is as closely linked to you as any 'home' ever could be. Taking place during the election campaign of Barack Obama (featuring quite a few poems on this) and complete with wonderfully abstract sketches (at times on tissue paper, reproduced beautifully) as well as a truly memorable afterword, Spilling Kingdoms leaves you literally itching for the next chapter in the series.

Misdaq read from this book at the 2011 Howl! Poetry Festival in New York City's East Village. He read the poem entitled "Where is the Sun of you?"

The Beautiful / Palace Prayers

(2011). Nefisa UK

The 5th book in the series features an introduction by Christopher Reiger. The book is separated into two parts as the title suggests, the latter half being a reproduction of the 2009 art/blog project featured on NPR of the same name (see 'Palace Prayers' the wordpress site). Misdaq wrote the blog under the pseudonym of 'Man in Palace'. From Reiger's foreword, "Both Wittgenstein and Thoreau can be described as transcendentalists; Yusuf qualifies, too. Like the two philosophers, he finds in his observations of the world cause for fundamental optimism. Unlike them, his writing is generally informal and devoid of pretension… No doubt the author, laughing, singing, eyes wide and sparkling, would appear mad to many of his fellows. This is to their discredit. They have forgotten (or failed to learn) how to look. Mystics, like many philosophers and artists, are too easily dismissed as lunatic or eccentric. Yusuf's ability to see through the veil of our cultural forgetfulness informs his aesthetic imagination and invigorates his art… Reading Yusuf's poetry, I'm reminded that every step is a psalm, every directed gaze is a prayer." – Christopher Reiger, Artist & Writer for Hungry Hyaena.

Lefke Automatic / Destiny of Love

(2012). Nefisa UK

The 6th instalment starts off as a travelogue of Misdaq's journey to seek out a living Sufi master in the Mediterranean. It includes poetry heavily influenced by Sufi concepts and appropriately features a glossary of terms as well as an introduction which was written in South-Africa on Christmas Day, 2011. The remainder of the book comprises love poems. This book was notably praised by best-selling novelist and author of The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini, who said, "This is lovely, moving work, with a sense of mystery, and the possibility of unexpected discovery, forever at hand. At times open ended, elusive, and abstract, Yusuf Misdaq's poems can also be bold, emphatic, and unafraid."

Collaborations

According to a 2010 interview with the artist Christopher Reiger, Misdaq is also releasing a book of poetry and prose, for which Reiger wrote the foreword.

In November 2006 he performed at a "poetry sama" organised by Q-News at London's prestigious RADA alongside Islamic scholar Abdul Hakim Murad & poet Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore.

Misdaq has expressed an admiration for Suzi Gablik, Robert Fisk and Amy Goodman amongst others on his arts website, nefisa. He also conducted a lengthy interview with illbient dub musician and pioneering CEO of the Wordsound record label Skiz Fernando in 2003, shortly after the Iraq invasion. This was also a special feature on Nefisa.

Misdaq has named experimental writer Lawrence Ytzhak Braithwaite and poet Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore as personal friends in the literary-world. Of Moore, the American Sufi poet's books are replete with quoted comments of praise from Misdaq, notably featuring on two of his most recent books 'Abdallah Jones & the Disappearing-Dust Caper' and 'Underwater Galaxies'. Misdaq has also written literary reviews for Moore's numerous works, appearing in such magazines as Illume, EMEL & online with DeenPort. Of Braithewaite, after the avante-garde novelist and performer mysteriously died in 2008, Misdaq dedicated his third album to him. The liner notes of 'Maghreb Isha & Space' contain a short eulogy and personal message to the deceased writer, whom Misdaq cited as an inspiration, ("You still inspire me.") and more specifically, Misdaq mentions that the third movement of the LP's 'Dream Suite' was 'for you' (i.e. Braithwaite). The message concludes, "I miss you brother. I wish you were still here."

Throughout 2009 and 2010, Misdaq collaborated with poet and author Raficq Abdulla MBE, on two extended poetry renga's, the last of which was performed in Kensington, London (in the studio of artists Francesco Cincotta and Ariane Braillard). The piece, which went back and forth several times, dealt with topics as varied as the invasion of Gaza, the rivalry between Tennis Champions Roger Federer and Raphael Nadal, and the origin of words. While commenting on the 'beauty' of the performance, Misdaq also revealed on his Myspace blog that the most telling moment of the evening came before the audience arrived for the performance, when he helped unblock a toilet.

Teaching

• Clouds & Oceans: Creativity & Islamic Spirituality, taught at George Washington University, The Marvin Center (in conjunction with GWU MSA) Fall, 2011/2012
• Clouds & Oceans: Islam & Creativity taught at New York University Islamic Center, Spring Term, 2010/2011
• Creative Writing, Undergraduate classes taught at the University of Brighton, UK.

Quotes on art

“[In response to a question about potentially creative children growing up in today's environment] Yeah they do have more distractions than I did, but they'll be fine. The right ones will emerge from the noise and help uplift the world, and the rest will do what the rest do. It doesn't change, generation after generation. Maybe you can say there are fewer and fewer people emerging; I don't know ... But either way, it's the same pattern. We just have to hope we are part of the force of good. We might wake up one day and realize we were part of the problem all along. Self-growth might do that to you." – In Dialogue with Yusuf Misdaq, interview with Courageous Creativity

"The English, of course, celebrate pessimism, and I used to welcome that as a part of being not only English, but an artist too. It's a very easy feat to accomplish when you remain in the intellectual realm. The ironic thing is that so many poets get away with staying in that safe intellectual realm. No-one is calling them out because poetry has become so stale that no-one expects anything more of it. The primality that I express here is a reclamation of the possibilities of poetry. Possibilities of sounds that emanate from our bodies as well as the more easy thoughts from minds." – Interview on new poetry series

"Be the action, don't take diction. Be the architect, don't be the actor. Don't react, be the first, cause friction. Move with instinct: the decisive factor" – Song, Continuing Journeys of a Muslim MC

"This world is very strange. It's becoming very wide, and it's very small. I want a different reality, that's why I make this music. Whatever this world offers, and in many ways, it's pretty good; the world's turning into a more artistic place, into a more [femenine] place, a place where ethnicity is not only accepted but coming to be celebrated- which is a bit scary – but where it's not denigrated to be ethnic, which was the climate when I was growing up... But for an artist, no matter you're thrown up with, in a way you have to be dissatisfied... You can't be taken in by what people say about the times you live in. You've got to look at it with a slightly journalistic eye, a completely open heart, and almost skeptical in a way; you have to look back and say 'yeah, maybe, but what about THIS? What about THIS?" And then you've got to make a track that is 'THIS', you've got to make a track that is 'THAT'." – Interview, 'Seeking, Stillness' from 'Maghreb Isha & Space' press release

"What is the point in being an artist if you're out there trying to say something? At this time in my life, this is how I feel about art. What are you doing, if you set out to make something? How can you call yourself a documentary filmmaker?"- Interview, 'Incidental Unity' from 'Maghreb Isha & Space' press release

"Is hip-hop itself a genre? If it is then I want to transcend hip-hop too, and in that case- I'm not a hip-hop artist, I'm more. But if, as I think, hip-hop is something bigger than genres, then I'm comfortable with it, and calling myself a hip-hop artist is fine in that case. It's all about people's different perceptions. But I listen to all music, so I am all music, you know? Man, it's a dirty game… labelling… isn't it? I like to push things though, that's all. I don't like to box things, I like to make things free, and that includes hip-hop, and people's preconceptions of hip-hop. Mangling and changing things is important sometimes."- Interview with Nikesh Shukla of UK Hip-Hop.com website

"I had a dream last night about a piece of art, and I promised to myself that I would make a start" – Dream (from LP, Flowers & Trees)

"We always pickin' up the same old menus / so when I speak, I try to speak like Pingu " – Toki / The Untangling (from LP, Maghreb, Isha & Space)

"Justice is a sandwich prepared by the selfish / Rich, rusted, fiscal economist" – Nightmare on Terror (from LP, From a Western Box)

"We flip the script / You anchorman, still playing this / Islamic fundamentalist bull---- / You ain't got a clue, so I let you know this: / We Cry – We Love – We Kiss / We Hurt – We Breathe and Miss / Don't think we don't feel the injustice / We black in 1950." – Misty (from LP, From a Western Box)

Discography

LP's

• "From a Western Box" (2004)
• "Flowers & Trees" (2005)
• "The Hearing" (compilation LP for charity Muslimyouth.net )(2005)
• "Hippocamp Ruins Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band" (mash-up LP with MichL Britsch & Fredo Viola et al.) (2006)
• "Le Dual Mule: Experiments in Improvisational Sound" (duet LP with Mikrosopht) (2006)
• "Maghreb Isha & Space" (2010)
• "If You Ask Me, Yes" (2013)

Bibliography

Novels

• The Steep Ascent, a novel (2013, UpSet Press, New York)
• Narayan, a novel (2012, unpublished)
• Pieces of a paki, a novel (2007, Nefisa UK / University of Sussex Press)

Poetry

• Lefke Automatic / Destiny of Love, poetry prose & songs (2011, Nefisa UK)
• The Beautiful / Palace Prayers, poetry, prose & songs (2011, Nefisa UK)
• Spilling Kingdoms, poetry & prose (2011, Nefisa UK)
• The Butterfly Gate, poetry & prose (2011, Nefisa UK)
• Into Solidity, poetry & prose (2011, Nefisa UK)
• Brighton Streets, poetry & prose (2010, Nefisa UK)
• Frozen Fountain, an art book (2008, Nizard / Misdaq)

References

• Misc. Magazines

New Currents Brighton – issue 21, January 2007

• Books

Pieces of a paki – Yusuf Misdaq (2007). Nefisa UK/University of Sussex press. ISBN 978-0-9555024-0-8

• Television

BBC South-East Today – feature on Y.Misdaq by Keir Richardson, BBC 1, August 2007.

• Radio

BBC Southern Counties Radio – interview with Sarah Gorrell, August 2007.

External links

• Official Music site
• Official Writing site
• UK Hip-Hop Interview
• Radical Middle Way Interview
• Real Audio Interview on BBC