Music
Edward Said’s Cultural Symphony
Edward Said’s writings on opera show a side of the famous Palestinian academic and activist little appreciated today — his enduring belief in cultural universalism. His legacy cannot be captured without taking into account what his lifelong passion for classical music meant to his broader corpus.
The World’s Biggest Stage
When the European Broadcasting Union rejected two songs Israel submitted for the 2024 Eurovision, saying its references to Oct. 7 were too political, President Isaac Herzog intervened and told the composers to change the lyrics. For 51 years, the song contest has been a critical component of Israel’s public image.
How Rural Music in the Middle East Bypassed Cultural Gatekeepers Using Tech and Weddings
The rise of Middle Eastern rural and folk music in the late 1990s is a fascinating story of a subculture reclaiming its prominence after being marginalized and policed by cultural gatekeepers for decades. This “creeping ruralism” also tracks with significant socioeconomic shifts in rural and suburban areas, reshaping the cultural landscape in unexpected ways.
Sinead O’Connor’s Death Has Reignited the Debate Over Music in Islam
As tributes to Sinead O’Connor flowed in, the question of music as a permissible artistic force in Muslim communities resurfaced — further inflamed by a recent Taliban attack on musicians in Afghanistan. Given the widespread dissemination of teachings condemning music, a reexamination of traditional Islamic scholarship’s approach is long overdue.
A Convert to Islam, Sinead O’Connor Will Continue the Battles She Chose via Her Voice
She could be the kind of Muslim she became only because she lived in a place with religious tolerance. It is doubtful that she would have liked the social conservatism of many Muslim societies. Had she grown up in one, she would have rebelled against it. In Iran, she would have burned the hijab.
How Islam Inspired the Music of the Late Jazz Legend Ahmad Jamal
Ahmad Jamal’s style was so formative to the development of jazz that Miles Davis once revealed that the Pittsburgh-born pianist, who died in April 2023 at the age of 92, was the source of all his inspiration. Thrumming below his success, though, was a distinctive part of his identity that is often treated as biographical trivia rather than a meaningful insight about art: his conversion to Islam.
Rock, Rai and Royalty — with Tarik O’Regan
“You want to write a piece that then lives on.” Tarik O’Regan joins New Lines magazine’s Lydia Wilson to talk about composing for Charles III’s coronation, the influence of rai and rock on his work and the close connection between music and memory.