Dawud Wharnsby Ali sings good nasyeed

I'm very picky when it comes to music. To be dead honest with you, i don't listen to nasyeed except for Raihan's music because they are the pioneers to the nasyeed scene in Malaysia. They're like Helmet who kick started the nu-metal birth, like Black Sabbath to the metal world, Kraftwerk to techno music. Well, that's strictly from a musical perspective.

And so i discovered something good a few months back from Dawud Wharnsby Ali. The song above just makes me want to strum the acoustic guitar yet again. It's a nice song with meaningful lyrics which makes it much more meaningful although some might condone the usage of guitars or stringed instruments in nasyeed. Another song at the moment which makes me want to pick up the guitar is 'The times they are a'changin' by Bob Dylan, the anthem for the 60s hippie era.

Another good song by this guy is The Prophet and my other favourite is Zain Bikha's Heart of a Muslim. Not that i dislike Malay nasyid, just that most other nasyeed are rip off rhythms from Raihan with different lyrics. To quote from Rob Zombie about Black Sabbath's reign as metal pioneers, "Every cool riff has already been written by Black Sabbath, anything anyone else does is basically ripping it off, either playing it slightly backwards or forwards, faster or slower, they did everything already." I could say the same thing of Raihan but of course, i do fully comprehend and aware that nasyeed is all about the message and the music is a mere secondary in stature. But then again, like i said, i'm mega picky in music and i prefer reading religious articles or listening to lectures/sermons.

And i questioned the real purpose of the nasyid bands after Raihan. Their intentions. Well, maybe that's just me and my underground philosophy. But then again, the rapid births of nasyid bands were for me just a tool to get money. What's the difference of the pop punk bands that appeared after Offspring or Green Day, or the bands that immitate Eddie Vedder's voice or the nu-metal explosion after Korn and Limp Bizkit? They were all tools to get money. The same cycle of things. Music pioneers get famous. Recording companies try to find the next thing closest to the original band. Gets money. Becomes rich. It's the same viscious cycle for one thing. Money. Well, that's my view of things. Some bands really sold out.

And so i came about this article a few months back about the stance of some scholars regarding music. The article punches me directly to my face, a total KO. This is strictly personal through self experience. From the article, "His state of emotions becomes less passionate when he hears the Qur'aan........He dislikes listening to the Qur'aan and does not find beauty in it while reciting it..." And this really happened to me. Again, to be dead honest with you, I would be high listening to Bob Dylan or say, the Beatles. But listening to Quran won't evoke such responses from me. It might be partly due to the fact i can't grasp Arabic, but then again i would still be high listening to some instrumental songs by Explosions in the Sky.

For some people who could manage to control themselves without getting too much engaged into the songs either musically or lyrically, maybe it's ok to listen to some songs. But i'm a music geek and the way i listened and am listening to music is way too obsessive, too enticing to the point of controlling my conscious (believe me when i say this). It makes the songs stuck into my head for a very very long time. Which i think is not that good to say the least.

And so i'm having my serampang dua mata project. First i want to reduce my time listening to too much music. Secondly i want to try and understand bits of the Quran through the learning of basic Arabic. I found this good dictionary which i hope may help you and me to understand the Quran better. I found out that there are 569 words which are repeated over and over again in the Quran which makes up about 80 % of the revelation.

54 : 17 And certainly We have made the Quran easy for remembrance, but is there anyone who will mind?

Hopefully it won't turn out to be one of those failed projects of mine.LOL.