Like the The Taqwacores characters, some Muslim punks are queer, others straight; some drink, some don’t. Sena Hussain, the lead vocalist of ‘Secret Trial Five’ (named after five Muslims who were held without charge in Canada after 9/11), is a 26-year-old Pakistani American lesbian married to her girlfriend and performs as a drag queen. She says her parents are ashamed of her being gay but are glad about her band because it has “at least something to do with Islam”.

Shock Value

The cover of The Kominas’ album, Wild Nights in Guantanamo Bay, has a gun-wielding woman, whose burqa has fallen off to reveal tattooed arms and a tight tank top. Kamel, the Al-Thawra lead vocalist, gets kicks out of punk-rocking for a White audience. “It’s fun to shout at the White kids in Arabic for a full 45 minutes without them understanding a word. When they see us shout at them in punk style sporting green boots with red laces and patched shirts, they’re startled at this kind of ‘defiance’,” he says.

Building bridges

Two members in ‘The Kominas’ band—guitarist Arjun Ray and drummer Karna Ray—are Hindu brothers from Kolkata. “My connection to Taqwacore is personal, not ideological,” says Karna, who has had “sand-nigger” yelled at him. Then, there’s a 30-something White Christian youth called ‘Sagg’ who formed the band Sagg Taqwacore Syndicate in late 2006. “I try to build bridges between Muslims and non-Muslims in the US”.

‘The Kominas’ had performed at a fund-raising concert at Brooklyn for the rebuilding of a Hindu temple vandalised by two White youths in Maple Grove, Minnesota in 2006. Usmani is also looking for people in India who can help him with a tour he’s planning of Delhi and Amritsar. “I am planning to call it ‘Party like it’s 1946’,” he says.

... contd.