Smash the Last Idol… Report from The Kominas Concert

by Daniela

Thanks to the magic of Twitter, I found an amazing band, The Kominas.
The Kominas (Urdu for bastards or scum bags) are a band from Boston; its members Americans of Indian and Pakistani origin. What started as a band of people of Muslim background has grown more diverse over time, but the emphasis on themes dealing with the Muslim experience in America prevail. The title of the Kominas album, Wild Nights in Guantanamo Bay already gives something of an insight of what the songs might be.
The Kominas are a part of a larger taqwacore movement. I feel that taqwacore is still in the process of defining itself, but the name is derived from the words “taqwa” (God-conscioussnes), and hardcore.

So, thanks to further disbursement of Twitter magic, I learnt that they are on tour, and playing in the Bay Area. Deciding to go to the concert on August 1 in Oakland was a no brainer – I knew I was in for something special because the punk subculture and Islam are close to my heart. How does this fit together? Perfectly! (At least in my mind).

Photo: Basim Usmani, Arjun Ray, Nyle Usmani

Punk is music of revolt. It’s a revolt of youth against the establishment, against its materialism, apathy, and hypocrisy. Punk emerged in the 70’s in the UK and US; in UK as a response to the bleak era of Thatcherism. Its music is fast, raw, energetic, and spontaneous, but punk is not just about music. It’s a movement; it’s a community of friends who stick together, and try to define their life without the barrage of the consumerist attitudes plaguing the establishment.

The Kominas with their humor take on the society’s hypocrisy very well. Songs like Walqaeda Superstore that talks about Saudi oil industry and American consumerism, or Sharia Law in the USA that deal with the fear of Muslims are great examples. It’s no wonder: if anyone saw a fair share of hypocrisy, it would be the American Muslims when our homegrown Ahmadinejad, George W. Bush entered stage and introduced his very own brand of bleakness.

Photo: Shahjehan Malik Khan, Arjun Ray

Growing up in this land that claims freedom and human rights for all on one hand, and which feeds and perpetuates prejudice against the Muslims and Islam on daily basis must have been a challenging experience. The band members spent their youth in the post 9/11 dark ages, an era which has done so much to perpetuate labeling of Muslims as terrorists, fanatics, and weirdos. This kind of climate must have presented some odd experiences for Muslim teenagers, who would already be likely struggling with the issues of identity and stereotypes: mix of cultures of their parents, and the society in which they are growing up, question of race (“brown” people in a society that is so hyper-focused on “black” and “white”), as artists who tend to be traditionally expected by their community to go to MIT and take up a Masters in Engineering or some such. That’s why the song Sharia Law in the USA has such a touch of genius: by morphing one of the greatest tag lines of punk from the godfathers of the movement, the Sex Pistols: “I am the anti-christ, I am an anarchist,” into “I am an Islamist, I am The Antichrist,” The Kominas are heaping the well deserved mockery onto the prejudiced masses, and make one big shout to express their revolt. Other Kominas songs are more contemplative, with poetry of belonging, and loss. Their latest song, Dog Called Akhira (lyrics), recorded in collaboration with Prop Anon only a week ago, is dealing with mourning and grief. You can check the song here, with The Kominas permission:

[audio:http://www.mideastyouth.com/audio/akhira.mp3]

To me, somehow all The Kominas songs convey struggle to establish one’s own identity in an environment ignorant at best, and hostile at worst (or vice versa?).

Photo: Prop Anon, Basim Usmani

Basim Usmani, the band’s singer and author of the songs’ lyrics, mentioned in a great interview for Sepia Mutiny that when he was in 4th grade, a child would bring The Bible to school every day, and tell him that he would be going to hell. Basim’s attempts to explain that he also has a spiritual tradition were completely in vain. I do remember that post 9/11, people were so crazed that there were that even a Sikh man (!) was beaten somewhere at a gas station in New Jersey up because the thugs who got him thought he was a terrorist. Obviously they didn’t do their research first. This kind of ignorance feeds the prejudice, and it is something that many of us are fed up with.

In this climate, a book called Taqwacores by Michael Muhammad Knight was published that helped define the Taqwacore movement. This book connected several US bands into an underground movement, and currently, a movie is being made based on it.

Due to some lucky constellation in the stars over the Bay Area, it so happened, that the author of the book, the director of the movie, as well a bunch of friends were present at the Oakland show. Consequently, I found myself at a show that was more like a party. At one point, the Kominas took off their shoes and threw them into the audience. When I asked them later if this is a tradition, they said that yes, since G.W. Bush trip to Iraq. At some point, they jumped off the stage and played among the crowd, and later, all piled up on the floor (I wish I could have captured that scene, but the floor was very dark!).

Photo: Imran Malik

Other than Kominas, the bands that were performing were Micropixie, Prop Anon, Sarmust, and Mujahideeen Bernstein Affair. All of them joined at the end for one splendid jam session, with energy that feeds me till this day. I could feel their love, I could feel their anger (more love than anger, really), but most of all, I heard their demand to STOP THE HATE.

Photo: Nyle Usmani, Arjun Ray

The general ignorance about Islam and Muslims, and prejudice angers me, and so I want to do my bit to promote the Kominas and spread their word. As much as I loved their music and their performance, what touched me most was the friendship that I saw they shared, and the struggle that they so poignantly express.

You can follow the Kominas and the Taqwacore movement in the Taqwacore Webzine. Big kudos to Kaitlin Foley for her valuable suggestions for this post. A full set of photos from the concert can be seen on Flickr.

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