Rebellious, wild, crazy and definitely an eye-opener,”Taqwacore: The Birth of Punk Islam” is a documentary that introduces us to bands that are spearheading the Taquacore movement and showcasing the music but also the lives behind those that are responsible for the Islamic punk music scene but also the man who inspired them to do it. An awesome documentary that is definitely recommended!
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DVD TITLE: Taqwacore: The Birth of Punk Islam
DATE OF FILM RELEASE: 2009
DURATION: 82 Minutes
DVD INFORMATION: Color, 16:9, English, Punjabi, Arabic, Urdu with English Subtitles
COMPANY: Lorber Films
RATED: NOT RATED
RELEASE DATE: July 2011
Directed by Omar Majeed
Produced by Mila Aung-Thwin
Co-Producer: Bob Moore
Executive Producer: Dan Cross
Music by Omar Wagar
Cinematography by Mark Ellam, Zachary Dylan Fay
Edited by Maxime Chalifoux, Omar Majeed
Starring:
Riz Ahmed
Arieb Azhur
Sena Hussain
Marwan Kamel
Shahjehan Khan
Michael Muhammad Knight
Imran Malik
Kourosh Poursalehi
Mohammad Mamoon Rashid
Arjun Ray
Basim Usmani
Omar Wagar
Taqwacore chronicles the nascent Muslim punk rock movement in America. It was inspired by the work of Michael Knight, who converted to Islam in rebellion against his white-supremacist father. He went on to pen the novel The Taqwacores (a term combining the Muslim concept of God consciousness with hardcore punk), a manifesto for disillusioned Islamic teens. Soon young Muslim musicians were contacting him and a tour idea was hatched. The film follows Knight and a variety of young subversives on tour as they shock and awe spectators in the U.S. before bringing their music to Lahore. They break every taboo along the way, from staging a lesbian thrash act at an Islamic convention to stomping on the American flag. As Knight exclaims, they’re giving the finger to both sides. The film charts their brave, foolish, and often exhilarating attempts to navigate the gap between their cultures and their countries, their religion and their individuality.
Rebellious, wild, crazy and definitely an eye-opener,”Taqwacore: The Birth of Punk Islam” is a documentary that introduces us to bands that are spearheading the Taquacore movement and showcasing the music but also the lives behind those that are responsible for the Islamic punk music scene but also the man who inspired them to do it. An awesome documentary that is definitely recommended!
Michael Muhammad McKnight is the author of the book “Taqwacore” (a term combining the Muslim concept of God consciousness with hardcore punk), a fictional book about Islam bands getting together and a book that has been inspiring to disenchanted Muslim teens.
And for those teens and young adults involved with music, some have written in to McKnight to ask about how they can be part of the Taqwacore but at the time, it didn’t exist. That was until a group of musicians in America who are part of the Muslim punk scene decided that why not make it a reality. Rent a bus, get together with other Muslim bands and perform around America.
“Taqwacore: The Birth of Punk Islam” documents the bands and band members as they try to make this tour a reality, giving us a look about the misconceptions of the Muslim faith but also how these teenagers are not too sure about certain parts of the faith, but how they fit in in today’s society. And for them, their music represents a middle finger to the left and to the right and most of all, just doing their own thing and making America know that Muslim punk rock exists but also to let people of their own faith know that the exist, whether they like it or not.
The film also documents Michael Muhammad Knight and other musicians as they bring their Taqwacore performance to the Middle East in Lahore.
But also, how some are scarred from their past and are trying to move foreword with their music but also for some, to have a bigger part in the Muslim faith.
VIDEO & AUDIO:
“Taqwacore: The Birth of Punk Islam” is presented in 16:9 and in English, Punjabi, Arabic and Urdu with English subtitles.
Picture quality for the most part is good for a documentary and audio is presented in Stereo. Dialogue and music is quite clear and the musical sequence is provided with English subtitles.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
There are no special features but Lorber Films trailers.
When I was younger, I used to listen to a lot of punk music and for me, as a teenager, I was inspired by bands such as Bad Brains, The Blue Hearts and other punk bands of other multi-cultural ethnic groups doing their own thing and have fun and may they have a political message or just singing about a girlfriend that jilted them, for me, just to see a band that sung about what they wanted with no one telling them what to do is pretty awesome.
But when I saw the trailer for “Taqwacore: The Birth of Punk Islam” from Lorber Films, I was excited to hear the music but also to get to learn about the lyrics and to see how their music identifies their mental-state of society, good and bad.
But for me, it’s interesting to see how people of Muslim faith would welcome (or not welcome) these punk bands, not just in the USA but also in the Middle East.
While music plays a big part of “Taqwacore”, there is also a focus on the people who are behind the music but also the man behind the original book.
For Michael Muhammad Knight, his story about his life as featured in this documentary is quite a shock. Having grown up with an abusive and white supremest father who is serving time for rape and also threatened to kill his own family (when Michael was younger, his father would threaten his wife that he would decapitate Michael when he was a baby), unfortunately Michael and his mother had to endure a lot and for Knight, his way of channeling his anger was listening to Public Enemy.
And although the music didn’t speak to him, it’s the interest in Malcolm X and the Muslim faith that led him to study Islamic teachings, converting to Muslim and a journey that led him to Pakistan And he would go on to write books including “Taqwacore”.
And his book spoke to many people because their lives were like the individuals featured in the book. Young Muslim teens who were into punk music, doing drugs and not knowing how to fit in with America but also the people of their own faith.
And we get to see some of these people travel with Knight all over the country and also overseas to make Taqwacore a reality.
While, their tour had faced major challenges in America (from those who canceled their performance because of the promotional pieces showcasing their Muslim faith), to seeing their own people having strict rules about not using profanity to women not singing live.
Needless to say, these guys are hardcore, rebellious, some who are anarchists, disillusioned Islam young adults and they pretty much beat to their own drum and enjoy life performing punk music bu to also sing their punk music to a Muslim crowd.
They have a lot of things going through their mind, from the way they are misunderstood by society, the politics in America and so many things they need to singing about…its their way to communicate and its through their music! Granted, not everyone is going to dig it, especially those who are traditional in their ways but I’ve never heard Islamic punk before but listening to these guys perform, it was pretty awesome.
And speaking of being rebellious, there are some scenes that are quite surprising as one musician reverses his car and slams it into the tree. Not sure if that was an act of defiance, something hardcore to show on the documentary or really an accident. Another area features Knight tackling his friend to the ground and when he gets up, mud/dirt all are over his face and the two guys smile and say they love each other.
Despite all the craziness, there is love in this film and I’m not talking about between man and woman but between faith and also brotherhood and as musicians. They may be from different backgrounds but they are all in it for the same cause and try to have fun while doing it.
Personally, I enjoyed the film because it’s not a documentary that tries to skimp on the action and focus on their challenges in the U.S., possibly the most eye-opening things to see is when they go overseas and we get to see Knight separating from the bands for a short time and become a part with his other brothers who embrace him, despite the fact that he is a White man. They embrace him and are proud of him converting to Islam.
And not just with Knight, you can tell how special and emotional it is for some of these individuals to be overseas and the musicians to perform in front of an audience who they don’t know how they will react or behave. They can only hope that the crowd comes out and watch them perform their music, despite traditional or conservative Muslims telling them that their music won’t work or doesn’t belong.
Doesn’t matter. You know these guys are going to perform and they are going to do it their way, their style and enjoy themselves.
While I felt the documentary was quite awesome, I think that there are people who came into the documentary wanting primarily the music, may feel that the film’s change in pace and focusing on deeper issues, especially on Michael Muhammad Knight’s life may feel it as a intrusive transition to the story of the musicians playing punk music. But to understand why Knight created Taqwacore (which inspired many other people who read the book), you have to know the psychological trauma that he had to endure at a young age. And that he is on a path of trying to find himself as well. It’s rather deep but I’m quite sure his story alone, similar to his book, will inspire Islamic teens who have had personal crisis of their own.
As for the DVD, it’s pretty much a barebones release and it would have been cool to have special features of either the band playing complete songs, deleted scenes or other special features possibly to follow up with the people who were in the film and how things may have changed for them after the documentary was created.
But for the most part, Omar Majeed and crew did a solid job with this documentary. I feel it was awesome that a documentary on the Taqwacore was created and I found it to be enjoyable, exciting and man, the music was pretty awesome as well.
If you are into punk music and also interested in knowing more about punk Islam, definitely give “Taqwacore: The Birth of Punk Islam” a try! Definitely recommended!
