This one is going to be quite short unfortunately as I'm a bit short of information.
Taqbir (or Takbir or
تَكْبِير)
is a mysterious new band from Tangier, Morocco, which self-released a
4-track tape in January and has made many people talk since.
African / middle-eastern bands are quite unusual in the punk scene,
especially the ones coming from religious countries. Morocco is definitely
not the most conservative of all Muslim countries but freedom of speech
(and of the press) is not really the priority of the actual king Mohammed VI... (to put it nicely).
And Takbir is going super harshly against the rules here...
First, their name: The Takbir is the arabic phrase
Allāhu akbar
(الله أكبر) meaning "God is The Greatest" and which starts every call to prayer recited (quite loudly) by the
muezzins five times a day, so it's something really sacred... and it's an
understatement to say that it's inappropriate to give that name to a
punk band...
Second, the cover artwork: in the middle of the front cover stands
the Kaaba or
Ka'bah (ٱلْكَعْبَة ) which is the final goal of
the main Muslim pilgrimage, the one to Mecca in Saudi Arabia that every
Muslim has to make at least once in their lifetime (called the
hajj), and this site, the most sacred one in Islam, is pictured
here as being destroyed...
The drawing of the girl with the studded burqa standing next to it is
quite cool though.
On the left side is a chopped head that a boot (doc martens?) crushes, my
very basic notions of Arabic don't allow me to decipher the sentence next
to it... but you get the whole picture, it's another strong statement
against Islam or at least against the most fanatics of its defenders...
(so I would say that the
taqwacore
hastag on their bandcamp is probably just a way of taking the piss).
Just for you to understand how risky it is to publish this kind of cover
in Morocco, it's important to remind that
caricatures of Islam or the royal family are illegal there and that
"in 2012, Zakaria Zine Al-Abidine, a 22-year-old atheist from
Casablanca, was sentenced to 5 years in prison, as well as a fine, for
publishing cartoons and comments on Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, on his
Facebook account" (source here).
In one word, blasphemy can send you to jail and put your life in
danger...
But as the cover states: "Victory belongs to those who fight for a right
cause"
I guess you now understand why the band prefers to remain discreet.
Some even suggested that the band, although actually composed of
Moroccans, was not physically present in Morocco, as the magnitude of the
"religious offences" and risks involved appear disproportionate.
I will just assume that they're actually based in Tangier and salute their
courage which should be a fine example of the importance of safeguarding
the right to caricature and blasphemy, right which has caused so much
controversy and problems here in France.
Thinking of an offensive "arabic" punk band,
Haram
immediately comes to mind, but it's quite different as it's actually an
American band from NYC with an Arabic background (for the singer at
least).
The most relevant reference would be the cassette label
A World Divided
from Tunis/Montreal which has released many tapes from Arabic speaking
bands (but not exclusively) over the past years and which should actually
release Taqbir's tape in the coming months.
A 7" should also be released by La Vida Es Un Mus in the coming months!
Let's have a quick look at the lyrics, I can only try to translate the songs' titles anyway.
So that gives us:
Sma3 (سمع) which means Listen, according to a translation on youtube it would roughly say something like "Listen I’m telling you,
Mind your own business"
Aisha Qandisha (عيشة قبديشة)is a female mythological figure in northern Moroccan folklore.
(تفو عليك)
Tfou 3lik is an insult literally meaning "I Spit On You".
Al-Zuki Akbar
(زوقي اكبر) well I'm not sure about this one, it's something like "My
taste is the greatest..." which seems to be a play on words between
taste/ass (the spelling of taste is slightly different in literary Arabic / MSA though).
Ok what about the music then ? Let's not forget that it's still our main
subject of interest here.
Taqbir delivers some powerful female-fronted fast punk / hardcore
punk which guitar and bass sounds fuzzy enough to give a low-fi (demo?)
touch. While the drums remain in the background, the singer's clear,
high-pitched voice emerges from the ensemble to directly, and violently, project screamed words, which I imagine vindictive, against your poor eardrums...
It's powerful, straight-forward... it's punk and effective!
It reminds me a bit of the Krimewatch's demo, Leather Daddy and the first Exit Order EP.
In a nutshell it's a great debut release from a band which will make a lot of keyboards click...
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