Singing praises of 'nasheed'

Maya Agustiana and Santi W.E. Soekanto, Contributors, Jakarta

It's become the seasonal thing to do for television stations to welcome the holy month of Ramadhan by creating "Islamic" programs, including draping jilbab (heads carves) on entertainers, who usually go around skimpily dressed, so they look the part to host the religious talk shows.

Among all the usual breaking of the fast and early morning shows, there is only one real novelty this year, TV7's Festival Nasyid-Tausiyah-Qiraan (FNTQ), consisting of contests of Islamic songs, lectures and recital of the Koran.

It exploits the current craze for reality shows such as AFI and Indonesian Idol, where winners are determined not by their talent, but the number of friends and relatives with the phone credit to send as many SMS as possible in their support.

Still, the festival for nasyid, popularly called nasheed, may soon change the vista of Islamic songs in the country.

Nasheed is indeed a new, rapidly evolving genre here. In the 1980s, a group of activists of da'wah (the call to Islam) created Nasyid Tauhid; its leader, Ustadz (teacher) Madani wrote the lyrics in Arabic in praises of the oneness of God.

It was first presented to a wider audience at the 1995 Islamic Arts Festival (SALAM) held by Campus Da'wah Center of the University of Indonesia.

Less than a decade later, nasheed has become more popular despite featuring mostly Muslim students and activists, who know next to nothing about melodies and music, but became involved anyway in their fervor to spread the word of Islam.

Hence the founding of groups such as Izzatul Islam, Arruhul Jadid, Shoutul Harokah, Justice Voice, Gradasi, Suara Persaudaraan and Gondes. The University of Indonesia and Gadjah Mada University produced the most number of nasheed groups, whose pieces are often sung to accompany Muslim students' street rallies.

Nasheed started to test the mainstream waters in the early 1990s and became more diverse, using both Arabic and Indonesian/Malay languages, adopting the tempo of marching bands, pop and the lilting tone of Malay music.

Snada Group, which first went a capella because of the controversy over whether it was Islamic to use musical instruments in singing praise to God, began to add music in its songs.

There are also nasheed singers who stay away from politics and continue to focus on extolling the greatness of Allah, Prophet Muhammad and their faith. These include Hadad Alwi and Sulis, the Alif Family and a series of groups affiliated with the renowned preacher A'a Gym: MQ Voice, The Fikr, Alginate and Tazakka.

The Hawariyun Group's cultural division gave birth to Qatrunada nasheed group, who was invited to perform in Yusuf Islam's concert last year in the Royal Albert Hall. Qatrunada (the name means dewdrop) has produced the albums Renungan Kehambaan (Contemplations of a Follower,1996), Setetes Embun (A Drop of Dew, 1998), Asmaul Husna (1998), Takdir (Fate, 1998), Rafiqaal A'la (1999) and Janji Tuhan itu Pasti (God's Certain Promise, 2000).

In 2000, they toured Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Australia. Their latest album, Kasih Sayang (Affection, 2002), features a poetry reading by rock singer Ikang Fawzi. The group was also featured at a convention of the Islamic Society of North America in 2001, while one of their songs, Salawat (Praise to the Prophet) is included on Our World, an album of the South African munsheed (singer of nasheed) Zain Bhikha.

The biggest impetus to the flourishing of nasheed in Indonesia, however, is Raihan, a group of young men from Malaysia who have been belting out the songs in their native tongue.

Raihan is noted for the harmony of their melodies and lyrics, strong vocalization and good recording quality, thanks to the backing of international label Warner. The group also won a series of music industry awards in Malaysia recently as the best nasheed group.

Today, when Nazrey Johani, Che Amran Idris, Amran Ibrahim and Abu Bakar Mohammad Yatim stage their concerts here or in their homeland, thousands of people flock to enjoy the music.

They are included in the Malaysian Book of Records for having the fastest selling album; their Puji-pujian (Praises) album sold 200,000 copies in less than two months in 1997.

And if success is measured in such ungodly terms of dollars and cents, then they measure up, too; they command US$15,000 per concerts, a huge amount for Asian artists.