We'll Play till We Die: Journeys across a Decade of Revolutionary Music in the Muslim World

344 Pages·2022·2.812 MB·English

by  Mark LeVine

We’ll Play till We Die
We’ll Play till We Die
journeys across a decade of
revolutionary music in
the muslim world
Mark LeVine
university of california press
University of California Press
Oakland, California
© 2022 by Mark LeVine
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: LeVine, Mark, 1966– author.
Title: We’ll play till we die : journeys across a decade of revolutionary music in
the Muslim world / Mark LeVine.
Description: Oakland, California : University of California Press, [2022] |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: lccn 2022000507 (print) | lccn 2022000508 (ebook) |
isbn 9780520350762 (hardback) | isbn 9780520975859 (ebook)
Subjects: lcsh: Popular music—Social aspects—Islamic countries. |
Popular music—Social aspects—Middle East.
Classification: lcc ml3918.p67 l483 2022 (print) | lcc ml3918.p67 (ebook) |
ddc 782.4216/3—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022000507
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022000508
Manufactured in the United States of America
31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Alessandro and Francesca
And if one of our instruments breaks, it doesn’t matter.
We have fallen into the place where everything is music.
—rumi, “Where Everything Is Music”
Talent has no race; there simply exists a race of musicians.
—manu dibango
It is the role of the artist to make the revolution irresistible.
—toni cade bambara
I broke the law?
No, the law broke me.
Enough, enough, gentlemen.
I was born here, my grandparents too.
You will not sever me from my roots.
—dam, “Born Here”
contents
List of Illustrations ix
Author’s Note: Revolutionary Auras and Phantasms xi
Acknowledgments xxxiii
Note on Transliteration xxxv
Introduction 1
From Uprisings to Plagues
1 • Morocco 13
Finding Harmonies in a Land of Dissidence
2 • Yalla, “Let’s Play!” 50
Egypt from the Pharaoh to the General
3 • Palestine/Israel 96
Uprisings in Music
4 • Lebanon 132
Remixed but Never Remastered
5 • Iran 170
Living in the Upside Down and Inside Out
6 • Pakistan 209
Shredding the Funk from the Valleys to the Sea
By Way of an Epilogue 251
The Joys of Resistance
References by Chapter 287
List of Contributors 297
Index 299
illustrations
1. Fans during first metal concert in central Cairo in many years,
December 2008 xiii
2. Egyptian Death Metal icon Troll reenacting the first time he sang
brutally, Giza, December 2008 xxxi
3. MTV Arabia promo video from 2008 featuring metal-themed parody
of 1950s Arab cabaret scene 3
4. Mouad Belghouat, aka El Haqed/l7a9d, publicity photo 14
5. Lazywall with Mark LeVine, l’Boulevard, Casablanca, 2008 20
6. Fans at the 2008 l’Boulevard Festival, Casablanca 21
7. Khtek, still from video for her song “KickOff,” 2020 25
8. Moroccan and European fans dancing at Hardzazat festival, 2016 38
9. Don Bigg, cover art for single “170 KG,” released December 2018 44
10. Revolutionary Artists Union corner, Midan Tahrir, during the
#Jan25 Uprising 67
11. Cherine Amr and Nancy Mounir in studio during rehearsals in 2019
for Massive Scar Era performance, Cairo 77
12. Islam Chipsy performing with EEK at Nuits Sonores, Lyons, 2016 80
13. Egyptian rapper Karim Rush performing with Arabian Knightz and
MC Amin in Mansoura, Egypt, 2015 83
14. Scarab, Martyrs of the Storm, album cover, 2020 87
15. ’48 Palestinian hip hop pioneers DAM performing at the 2019 Palestine
Music Expo, Ramallah 97
16. Cover of Orphaned Land’s album The Never Ending Way of
ORwarriOR 99
ix
17. MC Gaza, still from video for “We Didn’t Fear the Snipers,” 2018 120
18. Palestinian-Israeli rapper Saz, publicity photo from 2019 123
19. Slave to Sirens, performing at l’Boulevard Festival, Casablanca, 2019 157
20. Social media banner for World Metal Congress video podcast,
November 2020 161
21. Still from video of heavy metal show in Tehran, January 2018 172
22. Ali Sana’ei peforming with legendary Iranian chanteuse Googoosh at
the Hollywood Bowl, 2018 183
23. Salome MC, performing at Music Freedom Day, Harstad, Norway,
February 2016 184
24. Faraz Anwar performing at Coke Studio, 2017 213
25. Haniya Aslam, Lahore, 2012 218
26. Mekaal Hasan, Lahore, 2019 227
27. Lyari Underground, “Straight Outta Karachi” 247
28. Iraqi guitarist MahmOd Hamasi performing at One Café, Baghdad,
2021 255
29. Hakan Vreskala, performing near Taksim Square, Instanbul, 2013 269
30. Voice of Baceprot performing in Garut, Indonesia, May 2017 277
31. “Libyan Guitar Hero” Masoud Biswir, playing for comrades during
battle of Sirte, October 2011 283
x • Illustrations