Princess Siti and the Particularities of Post-Islamist Pop

• Main Author: Barendregt, Bart
• Format: Book Part
• Language: English
• Published: University of Hawai'i Press 2017
• Subjects: sami
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.21313/hawaii/9780824869861.003.0010

June 2012 saw the release of the song You came to Me , performed by ‘Islam’s Biggest Rock Star’, Sami Yusuf and Malaysian media darling Dato’ Siti Nurhaliza Tarudin, The song, - previously released on one of Yusuf’s solo albums and recorded in the nasheed idiom - was now repackaged for the Southeast Asian market and sung in English, Arab as well as Malay. The choice to perform in Malay is not surprising considering that Malaysia for decades has been known as the home of contemporary nasheed, with many global Muslim pop stars today enjoying most of their fame here rather than in their countries of origin. Also the nasheed idiom, being the most ‘modern’, global and commercial of Islamist genres, does not wholly come as a surprise. However, the male / female duet did stir considerable debate on how Muslim artists are to abide to ever changing rules of modest behavior and moral virtue. Popular culture increasingly seems to be become one of the main arenas in which such values are reframed and put to test, as especially Siti did experience. This contribution considers how modernity is musically articulated in a Muslim Southeast Asian context.