Not Too Sha3bi?

Thx to my man Motaz, an Egyptian/Cairovian musician and activist currently residing in Cambridge, for pointing me to Jennifer Peterson’s excellent article —      Sampling Folklore: The re-popularization of Sufi inshad in Egyptian dance music — which not only, beyond some linkthink, merits a post of its own here (for a few reasons), but inspires some […]

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linkthink #813: Travel Agency

Arab Media & Society | Sampling Folklore: The re-popularization of Sufi inshad in Egyptian dance music | by Jennifer Peterson ‘Drawing on the context of mulid festivals and Sufi inshad, the “mulid” trend samples, imitates and remixes elements of mulid festival music, lyrics, and cultural references into a distinct form of boisterous, youth-oriented dance music.’ […]

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Flag This: A Glance @ Google Nationalism

What can be gleaned by glancing at the first page of returns via Google Images for certain nations and their flags? I don’t know exactly, but I found the results fascinating enough to take several screenshots. I do like the play between a sort of repetitive stability and the occasional, odd (but telling) aberration, e.g., […]

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linkthink #2940: Jihadi Chic Latte

it’s a peace scarf Julieta_Venegas_Eres_para_mi(SonideroNacionalCumbowRmx).mp3 (audio/mpeg Object) via /rupture, a mexican cumbia given a reggaeton remix :: i love the term “cumbow” — so apropos! (tags: mexican cumbia remix reggaeton mp3) Comfort food and complaints at a Cairo food stand – Los Angeles Times “…That doesn’t sound bad to Ahmed Ali Mahmoud, who left the […]

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linkthink #3846: Kamikaze Narcissist

The Second Plane – Martin Amis – Book Review – New York Times “The genital theory of history may be novelistically useful, but it is analytically silly.” :: that, and other gems, in a skewering review by leon wieseltier (tags: book review nyt islam middleeast orientalism 911 writing) Guess The Country [30 PICS] – world […]

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linkthink #566858: Kurdish African Music Video

global media coverage, proportionally (via) Free! Why $0.00 Is the Future of Business chris anderson’s latest :: on the freeconomy (tags: book business commerce free culture tech economics) Neil Gaiman – Neil Gaiman’s Journal the author discusses making (his) books available for free (tags: books blog free culture literature comics) The Charms of Wikipedia – […]

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Adventures in Anachronistic Irony #5593935

Bruce Sterling on Jules Verne’s Invasion of the Sea — Mr. Verne’s latest techno-thriller boldly confronts the menace of Islamic terrorism. He has topnotch chops in technical accuracy, with endearing dashes of broad humor and a keen eye for telling detail. Let me be the first to predict this: someday this French novelist will be […]

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linkthink #739053: Hyphy Wifey Harvest

lower end spasm.: mix Thursday some bangin mixes, spanning juke, bmore, bassline, and dubstep :: fun at 140 bpm! (tags: mixes blogpost juke bmore bassline dubstep) lower end spasm.: MAD DECENT niche primer a couple niche/bassline mixes :: get up to speed (tags: mixes blogpost bassline house UK) Middle Eastern Fusions/Crossovers “Middle Eastern Influences in […]

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Hordes on Shopping Sprees?

If by “liberal bias,” the NYT is accused of taking pointed liberties with the language they employ, well then, count me as another critic. Take, e.g., a couple recent items demonstrating the Grey Lady’s ongoing implicit prejudice against the plight of Palestinians (via the always astute, and acerbic, angryarab and leninology), dehumanizing and trivializing as […]

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Gyp the System

Not surprisingly, Timbaland is back in the news — and in the courts — again facing charges of outsourcing the orient unauthorized sampling. This time he’s being sued, for the second time, over the use of elements from the Egyptian composition “Khosara” (most famously recorded by Abdel-Halim Hafez back in the 50s) for Jay-Z’s “Big […]

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Que Viva

make way: american express meets el angel de la independencia uptown Allow me a little (belated) unpacking, now back from Mexico City, where I swear I will return, clunky espaƱol and all, que pronto es posible. !Que ciudad! My principal reason for going was, as mentioned, to attend the biannual international meeting of the International […]

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Linkthink #6573: AyAyAy Edition

/jace: I enjoy watching the notion of a mainstream dissolve into a trillion scattered data-bites. me: ME TOO! e.g., “enta omry = your my life ragaooney 3nak = give me back your eyes leh ayam elley raho = to the days we had and so on and so on… it would take forever to translate. […]

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Another Crunk Genealogy

Considering what a solid series it’s been so far, I’m quite proud to present — Blogariddims ¡Blogaritmos! 11: “Another Crunk Genealogy” crunkyclave / dembowsalsa / raggyton / bhangrabounce subscribe to series | download mp3 (60:54 | 83.6mb) Of course, given the all-around excellence of the contributions to date, never mind the massive mix Heatwave dropped […]

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