Haq Nawaz Qureshi (born 15 March 1961) is a British singer, rapper and musician, known professionally and mainly by his stage name, Aki Nawaz. He is part of the band Fun-Da-Mental, and is best known for his controversial lyrics.

Profile

Nawaz was born in

Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

on 15 March 1961 and he is of Pakistani origin. His parents had come from

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

to the UK in the early 1950s and settled in Bradford, North

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. He was raised in a working class family in the

West Bowling West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance langu ...

area. In the 1980s, using his proper name Haq Qureshi, he played drums with the

gothic rock Gothic rock (also called goth rock or simply goth) is a style of rock music that emerged from post-punk in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The first post-punk bands which shifted toward dark music with gothic overtones include Siouxsie an ...

band Southern Death Cult, a forerunner to

The Cult The Cult are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Bradford in 1983. Before settling on their current name in January 1984, the band had performed under the name Death Cult, which was an evolution of the name of lead vocalist Ian Astbury ...

, featuring

Ian Astbury Ian Robert Astbury (born 14 May 1962) is an English singer, best known as the lead vocalist, frontman and a founding member of the rock band the Cult. During various hiatuses from the Cult, Astbury fronted the short-lived band Holy Barbarians ( ...

on vocals. When Astbury moved on to found his own band, the remaining musicians stayed together for a time as Getting the Fear, recruiting new singer Bee Hampshire from

Futon A is a traditional Japanese style of bedding. A complete futon set consists of a and a . Both elements of a futon bedding set are pliable enough to be folded and stored away in a large during the day. This allows a room to serve as a bedro ...

, but eventually broke up. In 1986, Nawaz moved to London, set up a management company and signed artists to major record labels. Two years later, he formed Nation Records as a label primarily focused on creating fusions between different musical forms from all over the world for a more youth-oriented audience. Nawaz advocates a certain Islamic

orthopraxy In the study of religion, orthopraxy is correct conduct, both ethical and liturgical, as opposed to faith or grace. Orthopraxy is in contrast with orthodoxy, which emphasizes correct belief. The word is a neoclassical compound— () meaning ...

, expressing total opposition to

alcohol Alcohol may refer to: Common uses * Alcohol (chemistry), a class of compounds * Ethanol, one of several alcohols, commonly known as alcohol in everyday life ** Alcohol (drug), intoxicant found in alcoholic beverages ** Alcoholic beverage, an alco ...

and drug use. He believes that there should be a unity between

Afro-Caribbean Afro-Caribbean or African Caribbean people are Caribbean people who trace their full or partial ancestry to Sub-Saharan Africa. The majority of the modern Afro-Caribbean people descend from the Indigenous peoples of Africa, Africans (primarily fr ...

s and Asians because he believes that the struggles that the two groups faced are exactly the same. Through his music, Nawaz attempts to "normalize" the Islamic presence in Britain as well as to explain the reasons for fundamentalist tendencies among Muslim youth.Swedenburg, Ted. "Islamic Hip-hop vs. Islamophobia." In Global Noise: Rap and Hip-Hop Outside the USA, 57–85. Middletown: Wesleyan University Press, 2001. Nawaz has collaborated with many traditional musicians, both in the studio and live: these include Huun Huur Tu, Rizwan Muazzam Qawwal-Mighty, Zulu Nation (a South African hip-hop group), and Gazi Khan (an artist from Rajasthan). Fun-Da-Mental worked with progressive Asian bands to help fight racism and spoke at anti-racist benefits. The group emphasizes militancy and self-defence when tackling racism. Nawaz has been criticized by Islamic community members not only for his lyrics, but also for his group Fun-Da-Mental's recital of verses from the

Qur'an The Quran, also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation directly from God ('' Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which consist of individual verses ('). Besides ...

over musical beats. Some Muslims believe this goes against what they regard as a fundamental tenet of

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

. In this sense, Nawaz's musical contributions are considered controversial for their lyrics as well as for their religious content. Nawaz claims he is prepared to face the consequences of any of his albums' releases, saying, "I'll take all the blame. If they're going to lock anyone up they'll lock me up."

Controversy over lyrics

The controversy behind "All is War" lies in its lyrics, which could be interpreted as glorifying terrorism. One of the songs, "Cookbook DIY," (the song's title being likely a reference to '' The Anarchist Cookbook'') includes instructions for making a home-made bomb. The video to this song makes many visual references to America. The video ends with a shot of

graffiti Graffiti (singular ''graffiti'', or ''graffito'' only in graffiti archeology) is writing or drawings made on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written "monikers" to elabor ...

which quotes John F. Kennedy's statement "If we make peaceful revolution impossible, we make violent revolution inevitable."

References

External links

G-Had in the UKNawaz at theworld.orgControversy over political songsCookbook DIY video at Trinketization
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nawaz, Aki Living people English male rappers British gothic rock musicians English rock drummers Musicians from Yorkshire Nation Records artists English people of Pakistani descent Musicians from Bradford 1961 births