“Thy will be done. Thy will be done. I don’t
know. Please, I don’t
know.” -Jessica
Ripper
Jessica Ripper is a white American
with blonde hair, blue eyes and a home in Northern California. Yet,
to many in Pakistan, she’s an Islamic-gospel musician who
plays the tabla.
In the 700-year-old sufi-singing
tradition of Qawwali, she’s a female trailblazer shattering
century-old glass ceilings from sufi shrine to sufi shrine. And
everywhere else, she’s a statistical anomaly, a bizarre
outlier.
Did fate direct Ripper to her path
as one of the world’s only white female western qawwali players? Or
was it chance and opportunity?
You be the judge.
Show Notes:
[00:10] “Villager”
by Blue Dot Sessions
[02:25] “Villa”
by Blue Dot Sessions
[04:40] “Allah Hu” by the Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan Party
[06:35] Shahzad Bashir
[06:40] “Snowmelt”
by Blue Dot Sessions
[08:35] Fanna-Fi-Allah
Side
note: They’re working on a documentary project about qawwali music.
See
here.
[08:40] On Ripper’s
conversion to
Islam.
[09:00] “Allah Hu” by Fanna-Fi-Allah
[10:35] “McKrary”
by Blue Dot Sessions
[11:20] Richard Michos performing with Shabaz
[13:00] Rahat Fateh Ali Khan
[13:05] “O Re Piya” by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan
[13:25] More on
Dildar Hussain
[13:25] “Tanam Farsuda Jan Para” by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan Party
[13:55] Nusrat’s collaboration with Michael Brook
[13:56] “In Your Eyes” by Peter Gabriel
[14:20] Nusrat’s obituary in
The New York Times
[15:10] “Banjo”
by Blue Dot Sessions
[16:09]
Yassir Chadly
[18:20] “Grand
Caravan” by
Blue Dot Sessions
[18:20] A
neat infographic
of what Islam looks
like.
[18:25] Additional
reading on Sufism
and the current state of
Islam
[19:00] Some
online dialogue about
music in Islam
[19:45] Background on
2010 Lahore Bombing
[20:50] Tabla played by Jessica
Ripper
[21:45]
The Urs of Baba
Farid
[21:50] On Baba Farid
[27:15] “3rd
Chair” by
Blue Dot Sessions
[28:03] “Ya Mustafa” by Fanna-Fi-Allah performed at the Urs of
Baba Farid
[30:05] Riffat Sultana
Recommended listening
[30:10] Ustad Salamat Ali Khan
[31:50] “Bliste”
by Blue Dot Sessions
[36:00] Abidah Parveen with members of Fanna-Fi-Allah
[39:05] “Illway”
by Blue Dot Sessions
[41:40] “Xandre”
by Blue Dot Sessions
[43:55] “Holo”
by Blue Dot Sessions
The
project that started this story:
Written
Video
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