ALOHA!
In conjunction with Muslim World Music Day on April 12, 2011, we will feature articles on Islam and music in one issue for each month. This week we feature music from East and Central Asia.
Mahalo,
Program Coordinators
Muslim Societies in Asia and the Pacific |
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Music and Muslim World
Muslim World Music Day
Muslim World Music Day is on April 12, 2011. In conjunction with that, The ARChive of Contemporary Music, the Arts Initiative at Columbia University, and Columbia University Libraries present an unprecedented collaborative project to catalog and celebrate the diversity, beauty and cultural importance of Muslim music. This resources combine elements of an academic teach-in, a crash course, and a virtual town hall meeting with an innovative crowdsourcing process. A collection of individuals and institutions from a variety of disciplines will work together to create awareness and understanding of the chosen subject in a compressed time frame.
Creative Voices of Islam in Asia
Asia Society's Creative Voices of Islam in Asia
project is a multidisciplinary initiative using the arts as a springboard to understand the diversity of Islam as a creative inspiration. Through an integrated program that brings together expertise from across the geographic
and cross-disciplinary depth of the entire community and organization, Creative Voices will not only provide a platform for myriad voices and perspectives, but will provide audiences with the context for a deeper understanding of Islamic artists and their societies.
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East and Central Asia Flavor
Soviet Sinatra
 A legendary crooner of the Soviet stage, Muslim Magomaev was a popular singer known as the "Soviet Sinatra" in Russia. He was a hugely popular Azerbaijani singer whose talents embraced traditional song, operatic arias and jazz standards and who rejoiced in being known as the "Soviet Sinatra". Magomaev was born in 1942 in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, then part of the Soviet empire, into a family of talented Azeri performers.
Uyghur Contemporary Singer
 Abdulla Abderehim is a well-known Uyghur contemporary folk singer. He is from Kashgar and a respectable singer. Abdulla is very talented and popular actor in East Turkestan. He makes excellent performances inside and outside of China.
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Uyghur Dance
 Arzigul Tursun's Gulzarangza is a famous group singer composed of Uyghur girls who perform in a party in Kashgar orchards. This kind of gathering or party is very popular among Uyghur girls. They usually gather for talking, singing and dancing. One of their known songs is Gulzarangza, meaning safflower (Carthamus tinctorius), which runs like this: "A lady loves somebody but she always can not meet him directly. So she goes to pick up safflowers from the field near the man's home as an excuse, hoping to meet him. According to Uyghur custom a woman cannot be open to express her feelings. In the song, the girl insinuates her love to the man whom she also wishes to meet.
(Credit to Tursun Ertuna for the translation)
Uzbek Dance
 In the art of Uzbek dancing three main schools have been developed: Ferghana school of local dance, Bukhara school and Khorezm school.
Khorezm dances are impulsive, spectacular, with abrupt movements and full of vigor. In the song accompanying the dance, the singer Ulugbek Sobirov sings of a man who falls in love in with the beauty and delicacy of woman. His soul is anxious because of her and he suffers of these feelings every time she passes by him. Learning that she is not indifferent to him, he asks her to reveal her feelings. Proposing she won't find a
better man, he asks her to unite their hearts and be happy together.
(Credit to Hikoyat Salimova and Lola Salimova for the translation)
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Introducing
Dr. James D. Frankel
Dr. Frankel is Assistant Professor at UH Department Department of Religion who studies the Hui Muslim Chinese. His new book titled "Rectifying God's Name: Liu Zhi's Confucian Translation of Monotheism and Islamic Law" just recently published. The volume begins by situating Liu Zhi in the historical development of the Chinese Muslim intellectual tradition. A close examination of the Tianfang dianli reveals Liu Zhi's specific usage of the concept of Ritual as a common foundation of both Confucian morality and social order and Islamic piety. Liu Zhi's methodology reveals an erudite and cosmopolitan scholar of Chinese Muslim simultaneity.
Dr. Frankel will speak on "China's Muslim Mosaic: Challenges of Islamic Diversity" at Wednesday Evening Seminar (WES), East West Center. The event will be held in Imin Conference Center on February 23, 2011 from 6:30p.m to 7:30p.m. This talk is open to public.
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Online Resources
Urumqi Hour The Urumqi Hour is radio station based in New York City and air news on Ughiur society. Iskandar Andrews, co-hosted by poet/writer Aisha Kashgari broadcasts live every Wednesday at 9PM EST. Ardent traveler and transculturalist Iskandar Andrews shares anecdotes and bears witness to the people, history, geography and culture of Xinjiang (pronounced "shin jahng") the fascinating region in Far Western China, the nexus of many languages and cultures, where the ancient crossroads is rapidly meeting modernity. The Urumqi Hour also features the music of Xinjiang musical artists. London Uyghur Ensemble: Popular Music of the Central Asian Uyghurs The London Uyghur Ensemble (LUE) is a London-based group playing traditional and popular music of the Central Asian Uyghurs. This link has collection of music from Uyghur musicians from the Uyghur homeland - East Turkistan (the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China) and from the Uyghur diaspora in Kyrgyzstan, in collaboration with professional British musicians. Their repertoire includes instrumental pieces, dance, composed and traditional songs, and the classical 'Twelve Muqam' suite. Hui Muslim Community This link has great online information on music and life of Hui Muslim community. Hui are one of the national minorities of China, they do not constitute an ethnically homogeneous group. They come from Arab, Persian, Central Asian, and Mongol origins, and arrived in China in several waves. The largest portion of Hui, however, descends from the two to three million Central Asian Muslims that the Mongol ruler Khubilai (Kublai) Khan brought to China in the 1270s as a military reserve.
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From Resistance to Adaptation:
Uyghur Popular Music and Changing Attitudes among Uyghur Youth
by
Nimrod Baranovitch
The rise of ethnic nationalism among the Uyghurs in Xinjiang during the early and mid-1990s and the harsh political and cultural repression that followed in its wake have been studied extensively. This article explains the process of changing attributes of the popular music from resistance to adaptation.
Full article available here
The Art of Chinese Xinjiang Uyghur Muqam: a Unique Witness of East and West Music Culture along the Silk Road
by
Zhou Ji
The art of Chinese Xinjiang Uyghur Muqam is a form of music popular in the Middle, South and West Asia as well as in North Africa, it exists in 19 countries and regions in the world. The music of Muqam was firstly introduced to the West at the beginning of the 20th Century. UNESCO. In 2005, the art of Chinese Xinjiang Uyghur Muqam was listed as the Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.
Full article available here
The Hui Ethnic Group
and the folksong "Huar"
by WU Yu-lin The folksong "Huar" is closely connected with the Hui Muslim ethnic group and its history. During the Yuan dynasty, the Hui ethnic groups inhabited in compact community , which formed population foundation for the birth of "Huar". During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, a great number of people of the Hui ethnic groups migrated to Northwest, serving as peasants and soldiers, which formed the historical and cultural background of "Huar". The pains they suffered was motive forces. Full article available here Modern Russian Islamic Music Traditions: History Relationships with Islamic Regions by Violette Yusova The relationships of Islamic music traditions in Russia and Islamic regions: Near and Middle East, Central Asia, have started from the 7th century. Since this time in the territory of Northern Caucasus has lived Arabian people, whose culture has rendered influence on local traditions. Today, several music traditions "Diasporas of nations" of the former USSR: Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, as well as Afghanistan, Kurdish and some either diaspora, develop in Russia too. Full article available here Musical Traditions and Ceremonies of Bukhara by Alexander B. Djumaev The author considers Bukharian musical traditions as multi-cultural phenomena which demonstrate different types of syntheses - pre-Islamic and Islamic elements, inter-confessional cooperation and mutual influences of ethnic groups and peoples living in the city. Various factors, such as climatic conditions, traditional architecture and the inclination of its citizens towards musical entertainment, have influenced the development of traditional music in Bukhara. Full article available here Diasporic Communities and Negotiated Identities: Trauma, Recovery, and the Search for the Armenian Musical Voice by Sylvia Alajaji This dissertation examines the role of music in reflecting and confronting various historical and political realities since the 1915 genocide that claimed the lives of approximately one million Armenians living in present-day Turkey and resulted in the dispersion of survivors throughout the world. The study of music in the Armenian diaspora offers many opportunities for the exploration of music's role in the establishment of cultural identity. Full article available at here
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Employment Opportunities
Featured Student Assistant
Muslim Societies in Asia and the Pacific
Last day to apply: 28 February 2011
Academic
Assistant, Associate or Full Professor - Art (Islamic Art)
Hunter College
Start review from: 8 February 2011
Assistant Professor, Religions of East Asia
Western Kentucky University
Last day to apply: 21 February 2011
Assistant Professor, South Asian Studies
University of Utah
Last day to apply: 1 March 2011
Associate or Full Professor Charles Redd Chair, Asian Religious Studies
Utah State University
Last day to apply: 3 March 2011
Two Faculty Positions, Sociology of Religion/ Cultural Sociology and Sociology of Language/ Sociology of Emotions
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Last day to apply: 24 March 2011
Assistant Professor, Islamic or Buddhist or Confucian Religious Thought/Philosophy
Syracuse University, New York
Last day to apply: 1 May 2011
Assistant Professor, South or Southeast Asian History
University of Central Florida
Last day to apply: 8 April 2011
Assistant Professor (tenure-track), South Asian Religions
University of Georgia
Last day to apply: 8 May 2011
Community
Translators Needed on Religious Studies in Contemporary China
Brill Publication, Boston
Education Officer
Curriculum Development, Institute of Ismaili Studies
United Kingdom
Last day to apply: 25 February 2011
Curator, Yousef Jameel Curator of Islamic Art Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Last day to apply: 28 February 2011
Corporate Gifts Officer
Islamic Relief USA
Alexandria, Virginia
Last day to apply: 7 March 2011
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Conferences
European Conference for Academic Disciplines
10 to 15 April 2011
Gottenheim near Freiburg, Germany
Abstract Deadline: 1 March 2011
2012 International Conference on Religion and Spirituality in Society
20 to 22 February 2012
Vancouver, Canada
Abstract deadline: 10 March 2011
American Canadian Conference for Academic Disciplines
23 to 26 May 2011
Toronto, Canada
Abstract Deadline: 18 March 2011
4th International Indonesia Forum Conference: 2nd Call for Papers
28 to 29 June 2011
Yogyakarta State University, Indonesia
Abstract Deadline: 31 March 2011
Afghanistan Symposium
17 to 18 February
Syracuse, USA
Center for Islamic Studies National Conference
17 to 19 February 2011
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Workshop on Language, Literacy, and the Social Construction of Authority in Islamic Societies
3 to 4 March 2011
Stanford University, California
Grounding Kashmir Symposium: Experience and Everyday Life on Both Sides of the Line of Control
5 to 6 March 2011
Stanford University, California
Geopolitics, Geoeconomics and International Relations Problems. NATO and EU Expansion to the East - Security Problems of Russia, CIS States, Europe and Asia
23 to 24 March, 2011
Saint Petersburg, Russia
AAS/ICAS 2011 Honolulu Conference
31 March to 3 April 2011
Honolulu, Hawai'i, USA
11th annual East Asian Studies Graduate Conference
5 March 2011
University of Toronto, Canada
Islamic Civilization - Potentials and Challenges
9 to 10 March 2011
Lahore, Pakistan
In the Mix: Asian Popular Music Conference
25 to 26 March 2011
Princeton University, USA
28th Annual Spring Symposium "Media, Culture and Democracy in South Asia"
6 to 8 April 2011
Center for South Asian Studies, University of Hawaii, USA
10th East-West Philosophers' Conference
16 to 24 May 2011
University of Hawaii - East West Center, USA
IIUM International Accounting Conference V
12 to 13 July 2011
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Islamic Tourism Conference & Travel Mart 2011
13 to 14 October 2011
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
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