![](\"https:\/\/www.altmuslim.com\/ee_images\/youssou_ndour.jpg\")
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/p><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n
The night of June 5 was amazing for many reasons, not the least of which was the fact that I got in a cab in midtown Manhattan at 7:40 pm on a Friday evening and miraculously made it to BAM<\/a>, the Brooklyn Academy of Music by 8:05 pm in time for the opening night of the Muslim Voices Festival. On the way, my mind was on Obama\u2019s Cairo speech and I began a conversation with the cab driver about it. <\/p>\n He hadn\u2019t heard the speech but, as a fellow Muslim, was duly impressed with the points I highlighted, such as Obama beginning with \u201cAssalamu Alaykum\u201d and the terms of respect he used \u2013 \u201cpeace be upon him\u201d after mentioning the Prophet\u2019s name and using \u201cHoly\u201d before mentioning the Quran. The driver said, \u201cObama, he\u2019s not Muslim, but he is a good man. He\u2019s honest, that\u2019s good.\u201d<\/p>\n BAM\u2019s big electronic billboard had a huge image of Youssou N\u2019Dour<\/a>, the star of the evening\u2019s event and the opener for the festival. His image brightened up the industrial landscape on a gray evening, and the cab driver \u2013 who was not only Muslim, but Senegalese \u2013 asked if I was seeing N\u2019Dour perform. When I said yes, he was a little envious, but happy that I was going. After all, N\u2019Dour is a source of Senegalese pride. <\/p>\n The event, co-sponsored by BAM, Asia Society and NYU Dialogues, began with a welcome by Brooklyn borough president Marty Markowitz. His greeting? \u201cAssalamu Alaykum.\u201d Brooklyn officials have strong relationships with the borough\u2019s many Muslims and, though he probably would have said it before Obama\u2019s Cairo speech, it definitely had more cache now.<\/p>\n I was not expecting the next guest, described by BAM\u2019s President as the \u201cowner in the house.\u201d New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg was well-received (many Muslims here do like him) and made a short but warm speech mentioning NYC\u2019s 600,000 Muslims and the importance of their contributions to the city. <\/p>\n The performances began with Ushaaq Ensemble performing Salaam Suite by Iraqi-American composer Amir ElSaffar<\/a> which began with a milad<\/i> (singing praises of the Prophet PBUH). This was the ensemble\u2019s world premiere and included US-based performers from India, Iraq, Palestine, Syria and Uzbekistan. All performed using a common approach to melody known as maqam<\/i> (Arabic) or raaga<\/i> (Hindustani classical).<\/p>\n The Ushaaq Ensemble was followed by a Quranic recitation, a traditional \u201ca capella\u201d like performance led not by a musician, but by Imam Shamsi Ali, a Malaysian, and the Imam of Manhattan\u2019s 96th Street mosque. Imam Ali was accompanied by Issah Lamin Yusif, a Ghanaian, up in a box seating area; and Mohammed Amanul Haque, a young Bangladeshi, in the orchestra section seating area. They each started off with individual recitations and then, as a trio, reciting in unison. Zeyba Rahman, the festival\u2019s senior project advisor, had envisioned this and found herself awed by the result \u2013 as did the audience.<\/p>\n At around 9 pm, the star of the evening Grammy-winning Youssou N\u2019Dour<\/a> and his Super Etoile band came on stage. N\u2019Dour performs mbalax<\/i> in Wolof; also singing in French and English. Mbalax<\/i>, a popular style of music in West Africa is, according to N\u2019Dour\u2019s website, a \u201ccombination of traditional griot percussion and praise-singing with Afro-Cuban and Haitian kompa<\/i> arrangements.\u201d N\u2019Dour\u2019s musical accompaniments range from the Western classical and electric guitars to the tama<\/i> (talking drums) and the sabar<\/i> (Senegalese conga) .<\/p>\n N\u2019Dour greeted the multi-cultural audience (a Jewish couple from the Upper West Side whose daughter is part of the Seeds for Peace program sat next to me) with \u201cAssalamu Alaykum\u201d and said, \u201cIslam means peace, peace unto you.\u201d <\/p>\n N\u2019Dour, a deeply pious Sufi, is one of the most celebrated African musicians in history. A world music superstar, N\u2019Dour has collaborated with Western musicians including Paul Simon (on his album Graceland<\/i>) and Peter Gabriel (on his album So<\/i>). He is controversial, however, and in 2004 came under attack in Muslim countries for his critically-acclaimed and award-winning CD \u201cEgypt.\u201d The album was deemed \u201cblasphemous.\u201d <\/p>\n N\u2019Dour says that he is trying to change the image of Islam from the one of a religion of \u201cextremists\u201d and of \u201cfear\u201d to one of peace, joy, song and love. During Friday\u2019s performance he insisted several times, \u201cthis is Islam, a religion in which people can sing, dance, even enjoy.\u201d <\/p>\n N\u2019Dour performed songs like \u201cNew Africa,\u201d which describes an Africa of beauty, love and happiness \u2013 not poverty, disease and AIDS \u2013 and \u201cMame Bamba\u201d devoted to his religious leader, Cheick Amadou Bamba . He also mentioned his new film \u201cI Bring What I Love<\/a>,\u201d a documentary based on the making of the album Egypt<\/i> and screened at BAM on Saturday (the film will be released elsewhere in New York City on June 12). He also did a special sequence with Hassan Hakmoun<\/a>, an NYC-based Moroccan-born musician who plays the sintir<\/i>, an African bass lute while doing the Gnawa<\/i> foot dance. <\/p>\n For anyone who has been to a concert in a performance hall, it is hard to be seated as the tempo of the songs picks up. The Senegalese in the audience, along with other Africans and die-hard N\u2019Dour fans, didn\u2019t wait for an invitation and just started dancing in the aisles. The rest of the audience followed only when N\u2019Dour\u2019s drummer said, \u201cYoussou sing, you dance. Come on everyone.\u201d <\/p>\n Two thousand people were up on their feet, waving their hands and moving (some more, some less) to the music of a diverse Muslim voice. As N\u2019Dour says \u201cthe music brings them and then you can deliver your message.\u201d <\/p>\n Hearts were won, walls were broken, and interest was created in just one evening, with nine more to follow. It was a big night for cultural diplomacy. <\/p>\n (Muslim Voices: Arts and Ideas<\/a>, a ten-day festival and two-day academic and policy conference in New York City, continues through June 14, 2009)<\/i><\/p>\n Zeba Iqbal is a member of the Muslim Voices: Arts and Ideas\u2019 Community Advisory Committee<\/a>. Zeba is also the Vice-Chair of CAMP<\/a> (Council for the Advancement of Muslim Professionals) and an active social and community networker and activist for the Muslim American community. Zeba lives in NYC and works at Princeton University.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Muslim Voices Festival<\/i>, a unique 10-day art and music festival featuring Muslim artists from around the world, brings a unique form of cultural exchange to New York City this week – starting with the celebrated Senegalese musician Youssou N’Dour<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"yoast_head":"\n