The Pop-Propheticism Propheticism of Bob Marley and Nusrat Fateh Ali K
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Music, Media, and Mysticism: T h e P o p - Propheticism o f B o b Marley and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan “What is my message? Truth, peace and love, and music and levity.” – Bob Marley– “My message is the message of humanity: love and peace.” – Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan– A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF RELIGIOUS STUDIES IN FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR PHD Varun Soni University of Cape Town Dissertation Advisor: Professor David Chidester TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………………... 1 ABSTRACT OF DISSERTATION……………………………………………….. 5 PART ONE: INTRODUCING POP-PROPHETICISM CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION……………………………………………… 7 Religion and Popular Culture……………………………………………… 7 Prophets and Prophecy……………………………………………………... 9 Mystics and Mysticism…………………………………………………….. 17 Music as Message………………………………………………………….. 21 CHAPTER TWO: SOURCES AND METHODOLOGY, FRAMEWORK AND INTERPRETATION………………………………………………………………. 29 Research Sources…………………………………………………………... 29 Interpreting Lives and Lyrics………………………………………………. 31 A Subaltern Historiography………………………………………………... 35 The Double Exegesis Framework………………………………………….. 37 CHAPTER THREE: A NEW PROPHETIC PARADIGM……………………....... 39 Framing a Postmodern Prophetic Paradigm……………………………...... 39 Canonical Recitation………………………………………………………. 43 Mystical Intoxication………………………………………………………. 45 Musical Fusion……………………………………………………………... 49 Media Proliferation………………………………………………………… 52 Economic Commodification……………………………………………….. 56 Political Appropriation…………………………………………………….. 60 Applying Pop-Propheticism……………………………………………….. 63 PART TWO: THE POP-PROPHETICISM OF BOB MARLEY CHAPTER FOUR: THE PROPHETIC DIMENSIONS OF RASTAFARIANISM…………………………………………………………….... 66 A Trinity of Prophets……….…………………………………………….... 66 Marcus Garvey’s Words Come to Pass……………………………………. 68 Leonard Howell and the Construction of Rastafarianism…………………. 75 CHAPTER FIVE: RASTAFARI, REGGAE, AND REVOLUTION……………... 81 Ganja, Dreadlocks, Ital……………………………………………………..81 Roots, Rock, Reggae……………………………………………………….. 87 CHAPTER SIX: THE PROPHETIC LIFE AND LYRICS OF BOB MARLEY…………………………………..………………………………………. 95 Soul Rebel………………………………………………………………….. 95 Chant Down Babylon………………………………………………………. 100 Who Feels It, Knows It…………………………………………………….. 107 CHAPTER SEVEN: THE POP-PROPHETICISM OF BOB MARLEY………….. 114 Canonical Recitation……………………………………………………….. 114 Mystical Intoxication………………………………………………………. 116 Musical Fusion……………………………………………………………... 118 Media Proliferation……………………………………………………….... 121 Economic Commodification……………………………………………….. 123 Political Appropriation……………………………………………………... 125 PART THREE: THE POP-PROPHETICISM OF NUSRAT FATEH ALI KHAN CHAPTER EIGHT: SUBCONTINENTAL SUFISM……………………..………. 128 Prophecy and Islam………………………………………………………… 128 The First Sufi……...……………………………………………………….. 133 Sufism in South Asia………………………………………………………. 135 CHAPTER NINE: INTOXICATED SPIRIT……………………………………… 142 The Medieval Bhakti Movement…………………………………………... 142 Beyond Bhakti……………………………………………………………… 146 The Call of Qawwali……………………………………………………….. 152 CHAPTER TEN: THE PROPHETIC LIFE AND LYRICS OF NUSRAT FATEH ALI KHAN……………………………………………………….............. 162 Shahen-Shah……………………………………………………………….. 162 Prophetic Lyricism…………………………………………………………. 171 Revelation………………………………………………………………….. 181 CHAPTER ELEVEN: THE POP-PROPHETICISM OF NUSRAT FATEH ALI KHAN……………………………………………………………………………… 188 Canonical Recitation……………………………………………………….. 188 Mystical Intoxication………………………………………………………. 190 Musical Fusion……………………………………………………………... 194 Media Proliferation………………………………………………………… 197 Economic Commodification……………………………………………….. 200 Political Appropriation……………………………………………………... 201 CHAPTER TWELVE: CONCLUSION…………………………………………… 207 Passing the Pop-Prophetic Mantle………………………………………..... 207 Pop-Propheticism and Religious Studies…………...……………………… 211 BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………………….. 213 DISCOGRAPHY………………………………………………………………….. 223 Copyright ! 2010 by Varun Soni Acknowledgements In the Indian tradition, the teacher-student lineage of parampara is an ancient and sacred institution responsible for the transmission of knowledge. I am extremely fortunate to have been mentored by extraordinary teachers throughout my life, and this dissertation is a testament to their overwhelming support, inspiration, and guidance. They all have my profound admiration and deep gratitude, and I am honored and humbled to be a part of their collective parampara. At Thacher School, Marvin Shagam challenged me to think critically and creatively, and instilled in me a lifelong love of learning. At Tufts University, Howard Hunter and William “Scotty” McLennan nurtured my interest in Religious Studies and provided me with the invaluable opportunities to study, teach, and complete my undergraduate thesis through the Department of Religion. At Harvard University, John Dunne and Edwin Bryant spent countless hours with me discussing Sanskrit and Indian philosophy, and they showed me firsthand how to reconcile the scholarly and the spiritual in my own life. At UCSB, Gurinder Singh Mann inspired me to study the religion and culture of the historical Punjab, and arranged for me to spend two months as a field research scholar in South Asia through UCSB’s Center for Sikh and Punjab Studies. Also at UCSB, Lisa Hajjar supported my interest in religion and law, encouraged me to finish my dissertation, and gave me my first full-time teaching job in the Law and Society Program. At UCLA School of Law, Devon Carbado and Kimberlé Crenshaw generously nurtured my interest in Critical Race Studies and carefully guided my subsequent research and scholarship in the field. 1 At UCT, my enduring gratitude and deepest respect goes to my dissertation advisor, David Chidester, as this dissertation would simply not be possible without his unwavering encouragement and generous support. It is with great enthusiasm and humility that I submit this dissertation to the Department of Religious Studies at UCT under his tutelage, as his critically acclaimed scholarship on religion and popular culture has dramatically shaped and inspired my own. I am also very grateful to Anne Wegerhoff, the Graduate Programmes Officer at UCT, for her advice and assistance, and for her patience and professionalism. I am fortunate for the friendship and support of many close colleagues from different academic institutions who challenged me to think through this dissertation. In particular, I remain grateful to my peers who provided specific comments and concrete suggestions for this dissertation, most notably Ami Shah, SpearIt Maldonado, Gabriel Levy, Josh Kun, Jane Iwamura, Rob Asghar, and Zachariah Mampilly. Throughout this dissertation process, I got to know many scholars, ethnomusicologists, and archivists of the reggae and qawwali traditions, none more important or influential than Roger Steffens and Adam Nayyar. Together, Roger Steffens and Adam Nayyar represent the world’s most authoritative scholars and archivists of reggae and qawwali respectively, and I remain deeply grateful for their time, advice, and friendship. Roger Steffens’ personal archive is the largest repository of reggae music and memorabilia in the world, and he has conducted thousands of interviews with reggae greats, including Bob Marley. Adam Nayyar was the Director of Lok Virsa in Pakistan, which houses the world’s largest archive of qawwali music and culture, and he spent 2 years touring and traveling with Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Tragically, Adam passed away while this dissertation was being written, but it could not have been written without his guidance and blessing. I would also like to thank Vikas Bhushan, who hired me to spearhead the Nusrat: Revealed multimedia translation project, and Giuseppe Asaro, who hired me as a cameraperson for his feature length documentary on Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, A Voice from Heaven. Working on Nusrat: Revealed and A Voice from Heaven gave me unique opportunities to travel to South Asia and record and produce both audio and visual representations of qawwali. I am also appreciative of the many musicians who spent time with me talking about the lives and legacies of Bob Marley and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. In particular, I am deeply grateful to A.R. Rahman, Damian Marley, Salman Ahmad, Ras Michael, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Dildar Hussein, Mehr and Sher Ali, Michael Brook, and the late Farrukh Fateh Ali Khan. A very special debt of gratitude goes to the extended Soni and Naidoo families for their unconditional love and encouragement. Many thanks to my brother Vaneesh, my sister Vanita, my parents Viney and Vandana, and my in-laws Johnson and Devi, for everything they have done and continue to do to support my research and my career. And I’m forever grateful to my late grandfather, Satendar Kumar Soni, for raising me with a healthy dose of Punjabi music and poetry, and for instilling in me a love for life and laughter. Finally, all my love and appreciation goes to my beautiful wife Shakti, who has lived up to her name by being the animating power that gave me new life. Shakti brought 3 me to Cape Town to start my dissertation and then gave me the strength and courage to finish it in Los Angeles. I remain grateful to her for inspiring me with her fortitude, her perseverance, and her dedication. Varun Soni Los Angeles, California 4 Abstract of the Dissertation: Music, Media, and Mysticism: The Pop-Propheticism of Bob Marley and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan This dissertation examines the recent emergence of popular recording artists who explicitly invoke the prophetic voices of their religious traditions