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The Awakening of Islamic Pop Music (Music and Performance in Muslim Contexts)

The Awakening of Islamic Pop Music (Music and Performance in Muslim Contexts)

Current price: $27.95
Publication Date: May 22nd, 2023
Publisher:
Edinburgh University Press
ISBN:
9781474490436
Pages:
224
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Description

Awakening - an Islamic media company formed in London - has created the soundtrack to many Muslim lives during the last two decades. As the company celebrates their first 20 years in the industry, Jonas Otterbeck examines their remarkable rise to success and their established reputation as one of the most important global enterprises producing pop music inspired by Islam. Otterbeck thoroughly describes the history and development of new Islamic popular music genres, in particular pop-nashid and Islamic pop, for the first time. He argues that Awakening - a company with the ambition to portray itself as Islamic - is best understood in relation to the ethical turn in Islamic thinking. In this way, he explores how the Islamic pop industry is, in effect, altering the very formulations of Islamic thought.

About the Author

Jonas Otterbeck is Professor of Islamic Studies at the Aga Khan University Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations, London. Prior to this, he was Professor of Islamic Studies at Lund University, Sweden, and Lecturer in International Migration and Ethnic Relations at Malmö University, Sweden. Over the last twenty-five years, he has engaged in research about contemporary Islam, often with political relevance. He has published on the situation of Muslim pupils in Swedish schools, the identity constructions of Muslim youth and their understanding of Islam, the representation of Islam and Muslims in Sweden, Islamic revivalist discourse, active citizenship among Muslims, and the relationship between European states and Muslim organisations. His research has also focused on music censorship and artists' right to expression. Among his many publications are the books Muslims in Western Europe (together with J. Nielsen, Edinburgh University Press, 2016) and numerous articles in journals such as Popular Music and Society, Contemporary Islam and Ethnic and Racial Studies.