“Cosmic American Music”: Religiosity and Old-Time America

By: Joshua Kalin Busman (University of North Carolina, Pembroke) // In August 1968, California rock band The Byrds released their sixth full-length recording, an album of mostly country-western cover songs called Sweetheart of the Rodeo. Up to Sweetheart’s release, The Byrds had been primarily associated with two important musical styles of the 1960s. Their first …

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and the “World Beat Dilemma”

By: Joshua Kalin Busman (University of North Carolina, Pembroke) // “Here's a world beat dilemma for you: Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan is one of the world's great singers, but his qawwali music is intended for Sufi Muslim religious ceremonies in Pakistan. How can Khan … be made palatable to the general listener?” —Ron Givens, Entertainment Weekly …

Hip-Hop Diplomacy, Part 2

By: Felicia Miyakawa (Austin, TX) // According to Hisham Aidi, the State Department’s primary reason for using Hip-hop in diplomatic overtures is to prevent Islamic radicalization. In a lengthy essay published in Foreign Affairs, Aidi describes instances in which these efforts have failed, not because immigrants went on to radical acts, but because government officials …

Hip-Hop Diplomacy, Part 1

By: Felicia Miyakawa (Austin, TX) // Earlier this year, Hisham Aidi published a book (Rebel Music: Race, Empire, and the New Muslim Youth Culture, Pantheon) that drew public attention to a new phenomenon: U.S. cultural diplomacy that uses Hip-hop as a “weapon.” Cultural diplomacy is not new, of course. During the Cold War, for example, …