Official trailer from the new Muslim Hip Hop documentary, "Deen Tight"
One of the ongoing discussions in the foreign policy and especially public diplomacy/cultural outreach parts of government over the past eight years has been how to engage Islamic cultures. In 2003 I was part of a group that suggested we send US Muslim Hip Hop artists on tour overseas much like Dizzy Gillespie did for the State Department in the 1950s. The above documentary trailer is an example of how far we have come since those conversations.
In fact, a number of artists have worked to highlight how global Hip Hop as an art form serves as a cultural bridge. Joshua Asen, creator of the documentary "I Love Hip Hop in Morocco" produced the film out of his years living in Morocco following September 11. (For those in the New York area, there will be a screening this Saturday, June 6 at 6:30pm at the Brooklyn Museum.)
We experienced the power of art dramatically when we launched our Digital Diplomacy project, Understanding Islam through Virtual Worlds, a year ago in Doha, Qatar and witnessed the spontaneous hip hop performance in Farsi and Arabic respectively by Iranian hip hop artist Yas and Palestinian hip hop artist Muhammed Mughrabi.
In our project we discovered that art itself -- specifically digital art -- was a gateway for cultural dialog and discovery.
Hat tip to Kait Foley at Inside Islam for the link to the above documentary trailer.
Tuesday, June 02, 2009
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4 comments:
Thanks for the hat tip! Deen Tight articulates the debates about music in Islam better than I ever could. I cannot wait to see it.
Thanks Kait! Very interesting discovery. Looking forward to seeing it as well!
Joshua/Rita, I'm new to your site and have been reading along for a week or so. I've just clicked through to watch the findings of your Understanding Islam Through Visual Worlds. Wow!! What a fascinating project. I've been only marginally aware of Second Life until now, but see how much potential there is for cross-cultural learning when the playing field is leveled (i.e. we're removed from the roles we play and the hierarchies we live in in "real life") and we are granted access to places and conversations that may not be possible outside of this environment. Thank you for doing and sharing this really exciting work!
Thanks for your nice comments Amy! We really enjoyed the Understanding Islam through Virtual Worlds project and sincerely hope that it illustrates the nuanced and powerful possibilities of virtual worlds.
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