Rap and the Arab Spring - London event

opendemocracy.org, FINAL REMINDER: Rap and the Arab Spring - London, Wednesday "This event will explore the questions: What ways did rap inspire the revolutionaries and how are the revolutions inspiring Arab rappers? With no real Arabic hip hop industry to speak of, how do we account for the genre's popularity and influence? Has Arab rap transcended its regional boundaries and made its impact global?"

Rap

Peter Mandaville, Daily Star Lebanon, Rap emerges as an added form of Muslim expression and mobilization, 30 Aug 2010 "Listening to South Asian Muslim teenagers in the post-industrial British city of Bradford, one can understand how Islamic faith and American hip-hop music have come to coexist. Searching for music that reflects their own experiences with alienation, racism and silenced political consciousness, many teens, even some quasi-religious groups, have turned to the urban music of black America."

Refers to Mecca2Medina, an early Muslim rap group in the UK. I still have their 12" vinyl releases (anyone remember vinyl records?).

This article was originally in YaleGlobal Online