Currently, Usmani and Khan are in Lahore where they have done 25 concerts over the last year. Their songs comment on the political and social situation there but steer clear of Islamic fundamentalism. “In America, we could afford to be sarcastic because the fear of terrorism was misplaced. In Pakistan, there is genuine fear of terror because Muslim fundamentalists are actually killing people here,” says Usmani, whose concert in Lahore last November was disrupted by a bomb attack.

The road ahead

The Taqwacore group on Facebook has 394 members while ‘The Kominas’ has 307. Hiba Siddiqui, a 17-year-old high-schooler in Houston, is drawn to Taqwacore because it allows her to be an “imperfect and confused Muslim”. Her Facebook photo has her wearing the Arabian white robe and red-check scarf for Halloween, holding a toy gun, gritting her teeth and frowning. Its caption: “My Al-Qaeda audition tape”.

Half-Iraqi, half-Kashmiri American Yusuf Barzinji, 14, writes on Knight’s Facebook wall, “Dude, Taqwacore has changed my life.” He converted his hardcore punk band into a Taqwacore band called ‘Purple Skies’ in 2008”.

But the sales of the music aren’t rocking. Sagg calls his sales “crap”; al-Thawra’s Who Benefits From War (May 2008) has sold only 200 copies; ‘The Kominas’ haven’t bothered to check the sales of Wild Nights in Guantanamo Bay whose 500 copies were put for sale on CD Bay last year.

Knight sums up the future of Taqwacore: “It can go anywhere, and it can go nowhere. Taqwacore is about being young and confused.”

... contd.