First, thanks to Darren (who Starbucked me into blogging) and to Cal who encouragingly joined him--both contending I had something to say--which I heard with the hash-tag, "And we won't have to listen to her all by ourselves." By the way, I have taken literary license and put into quotes ideas that seem accurately described by me below in order to help make a young man I respect come to life for you.
Breakfast with the Brandenburgs: Cat, Ernie, well breakfasted, and Cavailiers Sherlock and Watson atop the couch in breakfast-table view, in case some morsel makes its way to the kitchen floor. Cal coffee-deep in the Indy Star and Wall Street Journal, his interest.--every word of every article--but highlights and some pages always make their way to me. I'm not so much into EU fines and how the Volcker rule effects the banks. For me today, it was Ahmet Tuzer, from the coastal village of Pinarbasi, Turkey, who attracted my attention. You see 'quirky' is everywhere. And I'm always glad. Don't get the idea I'm shifting from Spradlin's high tenor crooning and Tom Jones tush--or Donnie Jourdan's 'sings anything' rock/blues/folk gravel, but I just can't keep from adding to my list the rocking Iman I met some time ago on Ytube and who actually made WSJ's front page today. Tuzer sings his Muslim cleric daily calls to prayer from the mosque where he preaches to his small congregation, and then donning long hair and skinny jeans he turns to Queen, Pink Floyd, and Zeppelin. While not Mick and Kieth, he and the three that make up his 'fab four' combine Islamic mysticism with rock, acid and otherwise. He says, "There's no contradiction between religion and heavy metal, and I hope to attract younger people to the faith by carving out a new gene: Muslim rock." Reminds me of that Methodist guy, Wesley, who faced a Church of England who at that time believed their high church was exclusive and was made for the wealthy, and said, "The world and all in it is my parish," taking pastoral care and faith to people in slums and coal mines. He and his brother, frequented English taverns and borrowed melody from bawdy tavern songs, creating from them words of wonder and faith. What emerged was a call for human rights and compassion. Those songs, seemingly 'old fashioned' to the young today, are still in hymnals in United Methodist church pews--and rocked the world when they were written.
How does religious authority feel about Tuzer? About like church hierarchy felt about Wesley and other similar happenings. In both cases--and many matching ones, the ire of conservatives has sparked debate. "This is not how holy people are supposed to behave!" Some of them, as you can imagine, think this music will ruin the young. The government is worried. Circa J. Edgar Hoover. Can you imagine music ever viewed as subversive in the US? We, too, have had our trouble being 'Footloose."
Tuzer says, "Our aim is to wrap Muslim songs into rock blues and psychedelic music, if necessary, to create a style that the young people like. We attempt to spread peace and enlarge the Muslim peaceful message of respect and love. There are enough doing otherwise," he says. He says the broader question is "what it means to be an iman, (third generation himself). The image of Islam is suffering right now, and we need to lead our community. If being an iman means solely acting within a framework of rules and taboos, it's not for me. Spirituality often means breaking boundaries." He, therefore, even dared to marry outside the church and joins the world's changing views regarding the valid place of men and women of the homosexual community.
So, what made me start following Tuzer, whose motto just as well might me, 'I rock, therefore imam'? WSJ
I was first attracted to the name of his rock group--FiRock, derived from math's 'golden ratio.' I love anything that is about the divine proportion of things--whether it be mathematics, life, art, architecture, faith, or according to the Wall Street Journal--the stock market. (I'm lost on that one, but imagine someone reading this might see how it fits.) Me, I remember the golden triangle from biology. How it's found, among other places, in arrangements of stems in plants to optimize their access to sunshine and make room for growth.
Einstein said, "Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind."
You see there is some greater design and purpose than what we at any time glimpse--no mater how open our heart can be. No matter the limits or expansion of our sight, hearing, tasting, feeling, and smelling--everything works for a greater purpose than we can imagine or being to fatham. Light and growth. For me--as a short cut--I call it God.
Or as the rock imam says: Everything is God. Everyone is God. We believe that, and if I hurt your heart, I hurt my heart, and I believe that I hurt God's heart. If we love each other, we will be very happy in this life and the next life, however that may happen. Music is one of the ways to get closer to God. We want to play all over the world. . .If the authorities try to stop me, I will fight them in court. The Prophet Muhammad would have approved of my mission."
Rock on. . . Yvonne
On the other side of right thinking and wrong thinking there is a field. I'll meet you there. Rumi, 12th Centiry Sufi poet, born in Turkey.
