An Interview with H M Naqvi

Abstract

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes 1. An American rapper, widely regarded as one of the most influential and most skilled MCs. 2. An influential left-wing intellectual, revolutionary poet, one of the most famous Urdu language poets from Pakistan. 3. A world-renowned Pakistani musician, primarily a singer of Qawwali, the devotional music of Sufis. He was considered one of the greatest singers ever recorded. Possessing a six-octave vocal range, he could perform at a high level of intensity for several hours. 4. A combination of traditional Yoruba music, jazz, highlife, funk and chanted vocals fused with percussion and vocal styles, popularised in Africa in the 1970s. Its main creator was the Nigerian multi-instrumentalist and bandleader Fela Kuti, who gave it its name. 5. Niggaz Wit Attitudes, an American hip hop group from Compton, California, widely considered one of the seminal acts of the gangsta rap sub-genre, at times even credited as the most important group in the history of hip hop. Active from 1986 to 1991, the group endured controversy due to the explicit nature of their lyrics and was subsequently banned from many mainstream US radio stations. In spite of this, the group has sold over 10 million CD units in the US alone. 6. Part of a hip hop duo with Rakim. 7. From ‘The Hour of Faithlessness’ by Faiz Ahmad Faiz. In The True Subject: Selected Poems of Faiz Ahmed Faiz. Trans. Naomi Lazard. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1988. 8. An American DJ from the South Bronx, New York, instrumental in the early development of hip hop throughout the 1980s. 9. Josh Malihabadi (5 Dec. 1894–22 Feb. 1982), born as Shabbir Hasan Khan, was a noted Urdu poet born in British India, who was an Indian citizen until 1958 when he emigrated to Pakistan and became a Pakistani citizen. He wrote ghazals and nazm under the takhallus (Urdu for nom de plume) Josh (literally ‘passion’ or ‘intensity’). 10. Iqbal (9 Nov. 1877–21 Apr. 1938), also known as Allama Iqbal, was a philosopher, poet and politician in British India who is widely regarded as having inspired the Pakistan Movement. He is considered one of the most important figures in Urdu literature, with literary work in both the Urdu and Persian languages. 11. Ice Cube is the stage name of O'Shea Jackson (born 15 June 1969), an American rapper, record producer, actor, screenwriter, film producer and director. He began his career as a member of the group CIA and later joined the rap group NWA. After leaving NWA in 1989 he built a successful solo career in music, and also as a writer, director, actor and producer in cinema. He was ranked eighth on MTV's list of the Ten Greatest MCs of All Time.