Heavy Metal Islam: Rock, Resistance, and the Struggle for the Soul of Islam

Mark LeVines acclaimed book on sub- and countercultural music in the Middle East, originally published in 2008, is now updated and reissued. The book explores the influence of Western music on the Middle East and North Africa through interviews with musicians and fans, introducing us to young people struggling to reconcile their religion with a passion for music and a thirst for change. LeVines unique breadth of experience as a musician, scholar, and activist makes him the perfect narrator for this revealing tour de force of contemporary cultures across the Muslim majority world. The book was a New York Times Editors Pick when it was first published and is considered a groundbreaking work of scholarship that pioneered new forms of research in the region.

Format: Hardback
Length: 228 pages
Publication date: 13 September 2022
Publisher: University of California Press

This updated reissue of Mark LeVines acclaimed, revolutionary book on sub- and countercultural music in the Middle East brings this groundbreaking portrait of the regions youth cultures to a new generation. Featuring a new preface by the author in conversation with the band The Kominas about the problematic connections between extreme music and Islam.

An eighteen-year-old Moroccan who loves Black Sabbath. A twenty-two-year-old rapper from the Gaza Strip. A young Lebanese singer who quotes Bob Marleys "Redemption Song." Heavy metal, punk, hip-hop, and reggae are each the music of protest, and are considered immoral by many in the Muslim world. As the young people and subcultures featured in Mark LeVines Heavy Metal Islam so presciently predicted, this music turned out to be the soundtrack of countercultures, uprisings, and even revolutions from Morocco to Pakistan.

In Heavy Metal Islam, originally published in 2008, Mark LeVine explores the influence of Western music on the Middle East and North Africa through interviews with musicians and fans, introducing us to young people struggling to reconcile their religion with a passion for music and a thirst for change. The result is a revealing tour de force of contemporary cultures across the Muslim majority world through the regions evolving music scenes that only a musician, scholar, and activist with LeVines unique breadth of experience could narrate. A New York Times Editors Pick when it was first published, Heavy Metal Islam is a surprising, wildly entertaining foray into a historically authoritarian region where music reveals itself to be a true democratizing force—and a groundbreaking work of scholarship that pioneered new forms of research in the region.

Weight: 408g
Dimension: 229 x 152 x 20 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780520389397