Penguin Random House Secondary Education
Elementary Secondary Higher Ed Common Reads

Secondary Education Inspire Teaching and Learning with Outstanding Books


Guides

Collections

News
(0)
Wish List
(0)
Wish List
prh logo
  • Secondary Education

    Inspire Teaching and Learning with Outstanding Books

    • English Language Arts
        • English Language Arts
        • Genre: Fiction
        • Genre: Nonfiction
        • Genre: Drama
        • Genre: Poetry
        • Genre: Literary Criticism
        •  
        • Literature: American
        • Literature: British & Commonwealth
        • Literature: Comparative & World
        •  
        • Communication
        • Writing & Composition
        • ESL / ELL

        • Browse All Subjects and Topics
    • Social Studies & History
        • Social Studies
        • Anthropology
        • Civics & Government
        • Economics, Business, and Finance
        • Geography
        • Philosophy & Ethics
        • Psychology
        • Sociology
        • History
        • European History
        • Historiography
        • Topical History
        • United States History
        • Wars, Conflicts, and Events
        • World History

        • Browse All Subjects and Topics
    • STEAM / STEM
        • Science
        • Applied Sciences
        • Astronomy
        • Biology & Life Sciences
        • Earth Science
        • Engineering
        • Environmental Science & Issues
        • Essays
        • Experiments, Projects, and Makerspace
        • History of Science
        • Physical Science
        • References
        • Research & Methodology
        • Scientists, Inventors, & Discoveries
        • The Arts
        • Architecture
        • Art
        • Fashion
        • Media Studies
        • Music
        • Performing Arts
        • Math
        • Algebra
        • Arithmetic
        • Calculus
        • Geometry
        • Precalculus
        • Probability & Statistics
        • Quantitative Reasoning
        • More Math…
        • Computer & IT
        • Artificial Intelligence
        • Coding & Programming
        • Computer Education
        • Computer Science Principles
        • Cyber Security
        • Design & User Experience (UX)
        • Entertainment & Games
        • Ethics
        • History of IT
        • Internet / The Web
        • Networking
        • Operating Systems
        • Software Manuals
        • More Computers & IT…

        • Browse All Subjects and Topics
    • Books in Spanish & World Languages
        • Books in Spanish & World Languages
        • Books in Spanish
        • World Languages

        • Browse All Subjects and Topics
    • Study Aids & Exam Prep
        • Study Aids & Exam Prep
        • College Entrance Exams
        • High School Exams

        • Browse All Subjects and Topics
    • More Disciplines
        • Health, Sports, Games, and Crafts
        • Cooking & Nutrition
        • Crafts & Makerspace
        • Games & Activities
        • Health & Wellness
        • Physical Education
        • Religious Studies & Spirituality
        • Agnostic & Atheist
        • Buddhism
        • Christianity
        • Comparative Religion
        • Confucianism
        • Hindu
        • Islam
        • Judaism
        • Notable People in Religious Studies & Spirituality
        • Taoism
        • Visionary & Metaphysical
        • Education & Professional Learning
        • Child and Adolescent Development
        • Classroom Management
        • Counseling
        • Pedagogy & Methodology
        • Schools and Education
        • Special Education
        • References
        • Almanacs
        • Atlases, Gazetteers, and Maps
        • Bibliographies & Indexes
        • Dictionaries
        • Encyclopedias
        • Research Materials
        • Style Manuals
        • Thesauruses
        • Word Lists
        • Writing Skills

          • Browse All Subjects and Topics
    • Guides
    • Collections
    • News
    • Other Penguin Random House Education Sites
    • Elementary Ed
    • Higher Ed
stopwatch icon
Are you still there?
If not, we’ll close this session in:
Download high-resolution image Look inside

Rebel Music

Race, Empire, and the New Muslim Youth Culture

Author Hisham Aidi
Look inside
Paperback
$16.95 US
Knopf | Vintage
5.18"W x 7.98"H x 0.91"D  
On sale Dec 02, 2014 | 432 Pages | 978-0-307-27997-2
| Grades 9-12 + AP/IB
Add to cart Add to list Exam Copies
See Additional Formats
  • History > World History > Middle East and North Africa > 21st Century
  • Social Studies > Anthropology > People and Cultures in the United States > Middle Eastern American
  • Social Studies > Anthropology > People and Cultures in the World > Middle East
  • Social Studies > Sociology > Social Institutions
share via email
share via facebook
share via twitter
share via email
share via facebook
share via twitter
  • About
  • Author
  • Excerpt
  • Praise
In this pioneering study, Hisham Aidi—an expert on globalization and social movements—takes us into the musical subcultures that have emerged among Muslim youth worldwide over the last decade.  He shows how music—primarily hip-hop, but also rock, reggae, Gnawa and Andalusian—has come to express a shared Muslim consciousness in face of War on Terror policies. 

This remarkable phenomenon extends from the banlieues of Paris to the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, from the park jams of the South Bronx to the Sufi rock bands of Pakistan. The United States and other Western governments have even tapped into these trends, using hip hop and Sufi music to de-radicalize Muslim youth abroad. Aidi situates these developments in a broader historical context, tracing longstanding connections between Islam and African-American music. Thoroughly researched, beautifully written, Rebel Music takes the pulse of a revolutionary soundtrack that spans the globe.

"Fascinating. . . Highly original. . . . Breathtaking." —The New York Times

"A marvel. . . . Hisham Aidi is a brilliant expositor of this powerful planetary cultural phenomenon." —David Levering Lewis, author of God’s Crucible: Islam and the Making of Europe, 570-1215

"Impressive. . . . With the confidence of a charismatic professor, Aidi's discussion wanders through Detroit, Brazil, and 'Jim Crow' Arabia." —The New York Times Book Review

"Mohammed meets Malcolm; Gnawa meets Guantanamo; Bandung meets B-boys; banlieues meet Bahia: this is the vibrant, noisy, embattled world Hisham Aidi brings to light. . . . In what can genuinely be described as a tour de force for its global scope, historical sweep, cultural virtuosity, and political sophistication, Rebel Music examines this soundtrack in a global context, from slavery to the latest war on terror." —Robin D. G. Kelley, author of Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original

"Rebel Music may be the most bafflingly significant book I’ve read in years.  It is a marvel. . . . Hisham Aidi is a brilliant expositor of this powerful planetary cultural phenomenon." —David Levering Lewis, author of God's Crucible: Islam and the Making of Europe, 570-1215
 
"A brilliant, utterly unique, effortlessly transnational and wonderfully written account of hip hop and new Muslim youth culture." —WashingtonPost.com

"In this bracing, fascinating, and utterly timely exploration of music, race, and cultural identity, Aidi examines young European and American Muslims and their search for what he calls 'a nonracist utopia'. . . . This book will be especially appealing to young people who want to better understand the Muslim perspective on war, prejudice, and national identity." —Booklist (starred)

"A multilayered and intriguing story of the mobilization of Muslim youth through music rather than militancy. . . . Moving from jazz to the late Algerian pop star Salim Halali, Aidi's wide-ranging, dense work persuades by its passionate accretion of detail." —Kirkus Reviews
© Arthur Cohen Photography
Hisham D. Aidi is a lecturer at the School of International and Public Affairs and the Institute of African Affairs at Columbia University. He was a Carnegie Scholar and Global Fellow at The Open Society Foundation and is coeditor, with Manning Marable, of Black Routes to Islam. View titles by Hisham Aidi

Prologue

One muggy afternoon in July 2003, I headed up to the South Bronx for the Crotona Park Jams, a small festival that is little-known locally, but manages to draw hip-hop fans from around the world. The annual event is organized by Tools of War, a grassroots arts organization that invites artists from across the country and Europe to perform in the Bronx, hip-hop’s putative birthplace, and to meet some of the genre’s pioneers, figures like Afrika Bambaataa and Kurtis Blow. I arrived at the park and asked around for Christie Z, a local promoter and activist. Christie, who has blue eyes and a ruddy complexion and wears a white head scarf, is the founder of Tools of War and a smaller group called Muslims in Hip Hop. She is married to Jorge Pabón (aka Fabel), a well-known dancer and master of ceremonies (MC), who appeared in the classic 1980s hip-hop film Beat Street and currently teaches “poppin’ ” and “lockin’ ” dance styles at NYU. The two—Christie Z & Fabel, as they’re known—are a power couple on the East Coast’s hip-hop scene, but they’ve become significant players internationally as well, organizing shows in Europe and bringing artists from overseas to perform in America.
 
Christie’s story is unusual. “People always ask me,” she says with a laugh, “how did a white girl from central Pennsylvania become a Muslim named Aziza who organizes turntable battles in the Bronx? I say the lyrics brought me here. I was in high school when I heard ‘The Message,’ ” she says, referring to the 1982 breakout song by Grandmaster Flash, which vividly described life in the ghetto during the Reagan era, and was one of hip-hop’s earliest mainstream hits. “I heard that track and I followed the sound to New York.”
 
I had arrived early hoping for a pre-show interview with the French rap crew 3ème Œil (Third Eye), who had flown in from Marseille to perform that evening. The rap trio is known in France for its socially conscious lyrics. Since the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, the group had become even more political, rapping about what they call the West’s “stranglehold” on the East. I stood around the stage waiting. A circle had formed with a group of boys clapping and dancing, as the DJ on duty that evening—another pioneer, DJ Tony Tone of the Cold Crush Brothers—spun rap and Latin soul classics. Soon Third Eye’s manager, Claudine, a brown-haired woman in her early twenties, appeared and led me backstage. I explained that I was a researcher at Columbia writing about global hip-hop. Her face lit up. “We’ve been wanting to talk to you for a while,” she said, as she walked me through a backstage tent and out into the open. Later I found out Claudine had thought I was a representative of Columbia Records, about to offer her group a contract.
 
The sun was setting, a blue glow had enveloped the park, and I walked up to the four young men lounging on a bench facing the spectacular Indian Lake, which sits at the park’s center. Soon I was chatting with the rappers—Boss One (Mohammed) and Jo Popo (Mohammed), both born in the Comoros Islands off the coast of East Africa, but raised in Marseille—and their DJ, Rebel (Moustapha). They were dressed similarly in sagging denim Bermudas, eighties-style Nike high-tops, and baseball caps. Jo Popo gave me a copy of their new hit single, “Si Triste” (So Sad). I told him I’d already seen bootlegged copies at African music stands in Harlem. He nodded and gave me a fist bump. The song, popular among West African youth in New York, offers social commentary over a looping bass line, decrying police brutality and mass incarceration (with a special shout-out to the American death-row prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal). I asked them how the French press responded to their lyrics, and about the anti-immigrant National Front leader Jean-Marie Le Pen’s claim that hip-hop was a dangerous musical genre that originated in the casbahs of Algeria.
 
Boss One shook his head, “For Le Pen, everything bad—rap, crime, AIDS—comes from Algeria or Islam.” This was mid-2003; the War on Terror was in its early years. “The more Bush and Chirac attack Islam and say it’s bad,” said Boss One, “the more young people will think it’s good, and the more the oppressed will go to Islam and radical preachers.” His tone became a little defensive when talking about the banlieues, the poor suburbs that ring France’s major cities, stating that life in France’s cités was better than in the American ghettos. “Life is hard in France, but we have a social safety net. Here there is no such thing”—he stood up to emphasize the point—“and it will get worse with Bush, the cowboy, le rancheur!”
 
Their bluster disappeared when I asked what they thought of the Bronx. They grew wistful talking about the Mecca of hip-hop. Jo Popo smiled describing their meeting the day before with hip-hop legend Afrika Bambaataa. “C’était incroyable!” Bam, as he is known, is particularly loved in France, where he was instrumental in introducing hip-hop in the early 1980s. The group’s music mixer, DJ Rebel, who previously hadn’t said a word, suddenly spoke up. “I have dreamed of visiting the Bronx for all thirty-six years of my life. This is where hip-hop started, this music which has liberated us, which has saved us,” he said with apparent seriousness. “Yesterday we met Bambaataa and Kool Herc. I thanked them personally for what they have done for us blacks and Muslims in France—they gave us a language, a culture, a community.” His voice broke a little.
 
I was struck by the emotion and sincerity of their words, and I had a few academic questions to ask: Why was the Bronx so central to the “moral geography” of working-class kids in Marseille? Where did this romantic view of the American ghetto come from? Why were they more fascinated by Bronx and Harlem folklore than by the culture of their parents’ countries of origin? Claudine suddenly reappeared and asked them to return to the tent. Grandmaster Flash, the legendary DJ and another iconic figure of global hip-hop, had arrived, and they were scheduled to meet him. “Flash invented scratching—I get paid to teach scratching in France,” said DJ Rebel getting up to leave. “A bientôt,” and the rap trio and their thoughtful DJ walked off. Half an hour later they were on the stage, waving their arms: “Sautez! Sautez! Sautez!” Boss One translated: “That means, ‘Jump! Jump! Jump!’ ”

Copyright © 2014 by Hisham D. Aidi. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
“Fascinating. . . Highly original. . . . Breathtaking.” —The New York Times

“A marvel. . . . Hisham Aidi is a brilliant expositor of this powerful planetary cultural phenomenon.” —David Levering Lewis, author of God’s Crucible: Islam and the Making of Europe, 570-1215

“Impressive. . . . With the confidence of a charismatic professor, Aidi’s discussion wanders through Detroit, Brazil, and ‘Jim Crow’ Arabia.” —The New York Times Book Review

“Mohammed meets Malcolm; Gnawa meets Guantanamo; Bandung meets B-boys; banlieues meet Bahia: this is the vibrant, noisy, embattled world Hisham Aidi brings to light. . . . In what can genuinely be described as a tour de force for its global scope, historical sweep, cultural virtuosity, and political sophistication, Rebel Music examines this soundtrack in a global context, from slavery to the latest war on terror.” —Robin D. G. Kelley, author of Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original

“Rebel Music may be the most bafflingly significant book I’ve read in years.  It is a marvel. . . . Hisham Aidi is a brilliant expositor of this powerful planetary cultural phenomenon.” —David Levering Lewis, author of God’s Crucible: Islam and the Making of Europe, 570-1215
 
“A brilliant, utterly unique, effortlessly transnational and wonderfully written account of hip hop and new Muslim youth culture.” —WashingtonPost.com

"Rebel Music offers an extraordinarily rich and variegated [musical] map . . . From Paris to Rio, from Philadelphia and Brooklyn to Morocco and southern Spain, Aidi is the peripatetic chronicler of the intricate intersecting musical and political worlds whose shared issues have never before been so cogently crystallized." —American Literary History

"Excellent." —Counterpunch

"Rebel Music has no antecedent or peer in musical historiography . . . [Aidi] acts as historian, musicologist, journalist and theologian, no easy juggling act . . . It is a virtuoso performance of historical knowledge and cultural observations, as Aidi jams on personalities and communities."
—Journal of the American Academy of Religion

"Phenomenal." —PopMatters

“In this bracing, fascinating, and utterly timely exploration of music, race, and cultural identity, Aidi examines young European and American Muslims and their search for what he calls ‘a nonracist utopia’. . . . This book will be especially appealing to young people who want to better understand the Muslim perspective on war, prejudice, and national identity.” —Booklist (starred)

“A multilayered and intriguing story of the mobilization of Muslim youth through music rather than militancy. . . . Moving from jazz to the late Algerian pop star Salim Halali, Aidi’s wide-ranging, dense work persuades by its passionate accretion of detail.” —Kirkus Reviews
share via email
share via facebook
share via twitter

About

In this pioneering study, Hisham Aidi—an expert on globalization and social movements—takes us into the musical subcultures that have emerged among Muslim youth worldwide over the last decade.  He shows how music—primarily hip-hop, but also rock, reggae, Gnawa and Andalusian—has come to express a shared Muslim consciousness in face of War on Terror policies. 

This remarkable phenomenon extends from the banlieues of Paris to the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, from the park jams of the South Bronx to the Sufi rock bands of Pakistan. The United States and other Western governments have even tapped into these trends, using hip hop and Sufi music to de-radicalize Muslim youth abroad. Aidi situates these developments in a broader historical context, tracing longstanding connections between Islam and African-American music. Thoroughly researched, beautifully written, Rebel Music takes the pulse of a revolutionary soundtrack that spans the globe.

"Fascinating. . . Highly original. . . . Breathtaking." —The New York Times

"A marvel. . . . Hisham Aidi is a brilliant expositor of this powerful planetary cultural phenomenon." —David Levering Lewis, author of God’s Crucible: Islam and the Making of Europe, 570-1215

"Impressive. . . . With the confidence of a charismatic professor, Aidi's discussion wanders through Detroit, Brazil, and 'Jim Crow' Arabia." —The New York Times Book Review

"Mohammed meets Malcolm; Gnawa meets Guantanamo; Bandung meets B-boys; banlieues meet Bahia: this is the vibrant, noisy, embattled world Hisham Aidi brings to light. . . . In what can genuinely be described as a tour de force for its global scope, historical sweep, cultural virtuosity, and political sophistication, Rebel Music examines this soundtrack in a global context, from slavery to the latest war on terror." —Robin D. G. Kelley, author of Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original

"Rebel Music may be the most bafflingly significant book I’ve read in years.  It is a marvel. . . . Hisham Aidi is a brilliant expositor of this powerful planetary cultural phenomenon." —David Levering Lewis, author of God's Crucible: Islam and the Making of Europe, 570-1215
 
"A brilliant, utterly unique, effortlessly transnational and wonderfully written account of hip hop and new Muslim youth culture." —WashingtonPost.com

"In this bracing, fascinating, and utterly timely exploration of music, race, and cultural identity, Aidi examines young European and American Muslims and their search for what he calls 'a nonracist utopia'. . . . This book will be especially appealing to young people who want to better understand the Muslim perspective on war, prejudice, and national identity." —Booklist (starred)

"A multilayered and intriguing story of the mobilization of Muslim youth through music rather than militancy. . . . Moving from jazz to the late Algerian pop star Salim Halali, Aidi's wide-ranging, dense work persuades by its passionate accretion of detail." —Kirkus Reviews

Author

© Arthur Cohen Photography
Hisham D. Aidi is a lecturer at the School of International and Public Affairs and the Institute of African Affairs at Columbia University. He was a Carnegie Scholar and Global Fellow at The Open Society Foundation and is coeditor, with Manning Marable, of Black Routes to Islam. View titles by Hisham Aidi

Excerpt

Prologue

One muggy afternoon in July 2003, I headed up to the South Bronx for the Crotona Park Jams, a small festival that is little-known locally, but manages to draw hip-hop fans from around the world. The annual event is organized by Tools of War, a grassroots arts organization that invites artists from across the country and Europe to perform in the Bronx, hip-hop’s putative birthplace, and to meet some of the genre’s pioneers, figures like Afrika Bambaataa and Kurtis Blow. I arrived at the park and asked around for Christie Z, a local promoter and activist. Christie, who has blue eyes and a ruddy complexion and wears a white head scarf, is the founder of Tools of War and a smaller group called Muslims in Hip Hop. She is married to Jorge Pabón (aka Fabel), a well-known dancer and master of ceremonies (MC), who appeared in the classic 1980s hip-hop film Beat Street and currently teaches “poppin’ ” and “lockin’ ” dance styles at NYU. The two—Christie Z & Fabel, as they’re known—are a power couple on the East Coast’s hip-hop scene, but they’ve become significant players internationally as well, organizing shows in Europe and bringing artists from overseas to perform in America.
 
Christie’s story is unusual. “People always ask me,” she says with a laugh, “how did a white girl from central Pennsylvania become a Muslim named Aziza who organizes turntable battles in the Bronx? I say the lyrics brought me here. I was in high school when I heard ‘The Message,’ ” she says, referring to the 1982 breakout song by Grandmaster Flash, which vividly described life in the ghetto during the Reagan era, and was one of hip-hop’s earliest mainstream hits. “I heard that track and I followed the sound to New York.”
 
I had arrived early hoping for a pre-show interview with the French rap crew 3ème Œil (Third Eye), who had flown in from Marseille to perform that evening. The rap trio is known in France for its socially conscious lyrics. Since the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, the group had become even more political, rapping about what they call the West’s “stranglehold” on the East. I stood around the stage waiting. A circle had formed with a group of boys clapping and dancing, as the DJ on duty that evening—another pioneer, DJ Tony Tone of the Cold Crush Brothers—spun rap and Latin soul classics. Soon Third Eye’s manager, Claudine, a brown-haired woman in her early twenties, appeared and led me backstage. I explained that I was a researcher at Columbia writing about global hip-hop. Her face lit up. “We’ve been wanting to talk to you for a while,” she said, as she walked me through a backstage tent and out into the open. Later I found out Claudine had thought I was a representative of Columbia Records, about to offer her group a contract.
 
The sun was setting, a blue glow had enveloped the park, and I walked up to the four young men lounging on a bench facing the spectacular Indian Lake, which sits at the park’s center. Soon I was chatting with the rappers—Boss One (Mohammed) and Jo Popo (Mohammed), both born in the Comoros Islands off the coast of East Africa, but raised in Marseille—and their DJ, Rebel (Moustapha). They were dressed similarly in sagging denim Bermudas, eighties-style Nike high-tops, and baseball caps. Jo Popo gave me a copy of their new hit single, “Si Triste” (So Sad). I told him I’d already seen bootlegged copies at African music stands in Harlem. He nodded and gave me a fist bump. The song, popular among West African youth in New York, offers social commentary over a looping bass line, decrying police brutality and mass incarceration (with a special shout-out to the American death-row prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal). I asked them how the French press responded to their lyrics, and about the anti-immigrant National Front leader Jean-Marie Le Pen’s claim that hip-hop was a dangerous musical genre that originated in the casbahs of Algeria.
 
Boss One shook his head, “For Le Pen, everything bad—rap, crime, AIDS—comes from Algeria or Islam.” This was mid-2003; the War on Terror was in its early years. “The more Bush and Chirac attack Islam and say it’s bad,” said Boss One, “the more young people will think it’s good, and the more the oppressed will go to Islam and radical preachers.” His tone became a little defensive when talking about the banlieues, the poor suburbs that ring France’s major cities, stating that life in France’s cités was better than in the American ghettos. “Life is hard in France, but we have a social safety net. Here there is no such thing”—he stood up to emphasize the point—“and it will get worse with Bush, the cowboy, le rancheur!”
 
Their bluster disappeared when I asked what they thought of the Bronx. They grew wistful talking about the Mecca of hip-hop. Jo Popo smiled describing their meeting the day before with hip-hop legend Afrika Bambaataa. “C’était incroyable!” Bam, as he is known, is particularly loved in France, where he was instrumental in introducing hip-hop in the early 1980s. The group’s music mixer, DJ Rebel, who previously hadn’t said a word, suddenly spoke up. “I have dreamed of visiting the Bronx for all thirty-six years of my life. This is where hip-hop started, this music which has liberated us, which has saved us,” he said with apparent seriousness. “Yesterday we met Bambaataa and Kool Herc. I thanked them personally for what they have done for us blacks and Muslims in France—they gave us a language, a culture, a community.” His voice broke a little.
 
I was struck by the emotion and sincerity of their words, and I had a few academic questions to ask: Why was the Bronx so central to the “moral geography” of working-class kids in Marseille? Where did this romantic view of the American ghetto come from? Why were they more fascinated by Bronx and Harlem folklore than by the culture of their parents’ countries of origin? Claudine suddenly reappeared and asked them to return to the tent. Grandmaster Flash, the legendary DJ and another iconic figure of global hip-hop, had arrived, and they were scheduled to meet him. “Flash invented scratching—I get paid to teach scratching in France,” said DJ Rebel getting up to leave. “A bientôt,” and the rap trio and their thoughtful DJ walked off. Half an hour later they were on the stage, waving their arms: “Sautez! Sautez! Sautez!” Boss One translated: “That means, ‘Jump! Jump! Jump!’ ”

Copyright © 2014 by Hisham D. Aidi. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

Praise

“Fascinating. . . Highly original. . . . Breathtaking.” —The New York Times

“A marvel. . . . Hisham Aidi is a brilliant expositor of this powerful planetary cultural phenomenon.” —David Levering Lewis, author of God’s Crucible: Islam and the Making of Europe, 570-1215

“Impressive. . . . With the confidence of a charismatic professor, Aidi’s discussion wanders through Detroit, Brazil, and ‘Jim Crow’ Arabia.” —The New York Times Book Review

“Mohammed meets Malcolm; Gnawa meets Guantanamo; Bandung meets B-boys; banlieues meet Bahia: this is the vibrant, noisy, embattled world Hisham Aidi brings to light. . . . In what can genuinely be described as a tour de force for its global scope, historical sweep, cultural virtuosity, and political sophistication, Rebel Music examines this soundtrack in a global context, from slavery to the latest war on terror.” —Robin D. G. Kelley, author of Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original

“Rebel Music may be the most bafflingly significant book I’ve read in years.  It is a marvel. . . . Hisham Aidi is a brilliant expositor of this powerful planetary cultural phenomenon.” —David Levering Lewis, author of God’s Crucible: Islam and the Making of Europe, 570-1215
 
“A brilliant, utterly unique, effortlessly transnational and wonderfully written account of hip hop and new Muslim youth culture.” —WashingtonPost.com

"Rebel Music offers an extraordinarily rich and variegated [musical] map . . . From Paris to Rio, from Philadelphia and Brooklyn to Morocco and southern Spain, Aidi is the peripatetic chronicler of the intricate intersecting musical and political worlds whose shared issues have never before been so cogently crystallized." —American Literary History

"Excellent." —Counterpunch

"Rebel Music has no antecedent or peer in musical historiography . . . [Aidi] acts as historian, musicologist, journalist and theologian, no easy juggling act . . . It is a virtuoso performance of historical knowledge and cultural observations, as Aidi jams on personalities and communities."
—Journal of the American Academy of Religion

"Phenomenal." —PopMatters

“In this bracing, fascinating, and utterly timely exploration of music, race, and cultural identity, Aidi examines young European and American Muslims and their search for what he calls ‘a nonracist utopia’. . . . This book will be especially appealing to young people who want to better understand the Muslim perspective on war, prejudice, and national identity.” —Booklist (starred)

“A multilayered and intriguing story of the mobilization of Muslim youth through music rather than militancy. . . . Moving from jazz to the late Algerian pop star Salim Halali, Aidi’s wide-ranging, dense work persuades by its passionate accretion of detail.” —Kirkus Reviews

Additional formats

  • Rebel Music
    Rebel Music
    Race, Empire, and the New Muslim Youth Culture
    Hisham Aidi
    Ebook
    Mar 04, 2014
  • Rebel Music
    Rebel Music
    Race, Empire, and the New Muslim Youth Culture
    Hisham Aidi
    Ebook
    Mar 04, 2014
Related Articles
Graphic Novels General Classroom Libraries English Language Arts Advanced Placement High School
October 5 2023

PRH Education High School Collections

All reading communities should contain protected time for the sake of reading. Independent reading practices emphasize the process of making meaning through reading, not an end product. The school culture (teachers, administration, etc.) should affirm this daily practice time as inherently important instructional time for all readers. (NCTE, 2019)   The Penguin Random House High

Read more

PRH Education High School Collections

Graphic Novels General Classroom Libraries English Language Arts Advanced Placement High School
October 5 2023
References Science Translanguaging Collections Social Studies The Arts History High School Middle School General Graphic Novels Education & Professional Learning English Language Arts Favorite Authors & Series Classroom Libraries
April 19 2022

PRH Education Translanguaging Collections

Translanguaging is a communicative practice of bilinguals and multilinguals, that is, it is a practice whereby bilinguals and multilinguals use their entire linguistic repertoire to communicate and make meaning (García, 2009; García, Ibarra Johnson, & Seltzer, 2017)   It is through that lens that we have partnered with teacher educators and bilingual education experts, Drs.

Read more

PRH Education Translanguaging Collections

References Science Translanguaging Collections Social Studies The Arts History High School Middle School General Graphic Novels Education & Professional Learning English Language Arts Favorite Authors & Series Classroom Libraries
April 19 2022
General English Language Arts Favorite Authors & Series References Science Classroom Libraries Social Studies Environmental Science The Arts History Middle School Graphic Novels
October 22 2020

PRH Education Classroom Libraries

“Books are a students’ passport to entering and actively participating in a global society with the empathy, compassion, and knowledge it takes to become the problem solvers the world needs.” –Laura Robb   Research shows that reading and literacy directly impacts students’ academic success and personal growth. To help promote the importance of daily independent

Read more

PRH Education Classroom Libraries

General English Language Arts Favorite Authors & Series References Science Classroom Libraries Social Studies Environmental Science The Arts History Middle School Graphic Novels
October 22 2020
Connect with Us!

Get the latest news on all things Secondary Education.
Learn about our books, authors, teacher events, and more!

Friend us on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter

Subscribe on YouTube

View us on Pinterest

Penguin Random House logo

Our mission is to foster a universal passion for reading by partnering with authors to help create stories and communicate ideas that inform, entertain, and inspire.

Privacy Policy   |   Terms of Use

© 2023 Penguin Random House

About Secondary Education

  • About Us
  • FAQ
  • Conferences
  • Contact your PreK-12 Representative
  • Browse & subscribe to our newsletters

Penguin Random House Education

  • Elementary
  • Secondary
  • Higher Ed
  • Common Reads

Penguin Random House

  • PenguinRandomHouse.com
  • global.PenguinRandomHouse.com
  • Penguin Random House Speakers Bureau

About Secondary Education

  • About Us
  • FAQ
  • Conferences

Penguin Random House Education

  • Elementary
  • Secondary
  • Higher Ed
  • Common Reads
  • Contact your PreK-12 Representative
  • Browse & subscribe to our newsletters

Penguin Random House

  • PenguinRandomHouse.com
  • global.PenguinRandomHouse.com
  • Penguin Random House Speakers Bureau

Privacy Policy   |   Terms of Use

© 2023 Penguin Random House
Back to Top
prh logo
0
  • prh logo
    0
    Secondary Education
    • English Language Arts
      • Back to main menu
      • English Language Arts
      • Genre: Fiction
      • Genre: Nonfiction
      • Genre: Drama
      • Genre: Poetry
      • Genre: Literary Criticism
      •  
      • Literature: American
      • Literature: British & Commonwealth
      • Literature: Comparative & World
      •  
      • Communication
      • Writing & Composition
      • ESL / ELL
      • Browse All Subjects and Topics
    • Social Studies & History
      • Back to main menu
      • Social Studies
      • Anthropology
      • Civics & Government
      • Economics, Business, and Finance
      • Geography
      • Philosophy & Ethics
      • Psychology
      • Sociology
      • History
      • European History
      • Historiography
      • Topical History
      • United States History
      • Wars, Conflicts, and Events
      • World History
      • Browse All Subjects and Topics
    • STEAM / STEM
      • Back to main menu
      • Science
      • Applied Sciences
      • Astronomy
      • Biology & Life Sciences
      • Earth Science
      • Engineering
      • Environmental Science & Issues
      • Essays
      • Experiments, Projects, and Makerspace
      • History of Science
      • Physical Science
      • References
      • Research & Methodology
      • Scientists, Inventors, & Discoveries
      • The Arts
      • Architecture
      • Art
      • Fashion
      • Media Studies
      • Music
      • Performing Arts
      • Math
      • Algebra
      • Arithmetic
      • Calculus
      • Geometry
      • Precalculus
      • Probability & Statistics
      • Quantitative Reasoning
      • More Math…
      • Computer & IT
      • Artificial Intelligence
      • Coding & Programming
      • Computer Education
      • Computer Science Principles
      • Cyber Security
      • Design & User Experience (UX)
      • Entertainment & Games
      • Ethics
      • History of IT
      • Internet / The Web
      • Networking
      • Operating Systems
      • Software Manuals
      • More Computers & IT…
      • Browse All Subjects and Topics
    • Books in Spanish & World Languages
      • Back to main menu
      • Books in Spanish & World Languages
      • Books in Spanish
      • World Languages
      • Browse All Subjects and Topics
    • Study Aids & Exam Prep
      • Back to main menu
      • Study Aids & Exam Prep
      • College Entrance Exams
      • High School Exams
      • Browse All Subjects and Topics
    • More Disciplines
      • Back to main menu
      • Health, Sports, Games, and Crafts
      • Cooking & Nutrition
      • Crafts & Makerspace
      • Games & Activities
      • Health & Wellness
      • Physical Education
      • Religious Studies & Spirituality
      • Agnostic & Atheist
      • Buddhism
      • Christianity
      • Comparative Religion
      • Confucianism
      • Hindu
      • Islam
      • Judaism
      • Notable People in Religious Studies & Spirituality
      • Taoism
      • Visionary & Metaphysical
      • Education & Professional Learning
      • Child and Adolescent Development
      • Classroom Management
      • Counseling
      • Pedagogy & Methodology
      • Schools and Education
      • Special Education
      • References
      • Almanacs
      • Atlases, Gazetteers, and Maps
      • Bibliographies & Indexes
      • Dictionaries
      • Encyclopedias
      • Research Materials
      • Style Manuals
      • Thesauruses
      • Word Lists
      • Writing Skills
      • Browse All Subjects and Topics
    • Guides
    • Collections
    • News
    Wish List (0)
    • Other Penguin Random House Education Sites
    • Elementary
    • Higher Ed
    • Common Reads

    /