The transcript for unpublished interview for Dazed Digital, they shelved it I guess. Luckily I saved a copy so i’m publishing it…

Dominique Sisley (Dazed): How did you first become acquainted with the Taqwacore movement?

Omar Pitras Waqar: I had been playing music in bands in DC for many years, I was in this band called Diacritical at the time, around 2006 but had been feeling more isolated by the lack of diversity, and the islamophobia in the local scene, even though there was and still is a strong anti-racist foundation in the DC punk scene, I found my self often tokenized, exotified, or the spokesperson for millions of people, which is disheartening. So one day I was searching around on myspace for other south asians (like me) in punk and indie bands when I met the guys in The Kominas, we started to hang out and play gigs together and became friends, they put me onto Mike Knights book… and we all kinda started reaching out to people in bands all over the country, and the world… things grew from there.

Dominique Sisley (Dazed): What is Taqwacore to you?

Omar Pitras Waqar: It was at its core a reactionary art movement. Brought about by the social and political climate of times. I was a young creative facing violence, and bigotry on a regular basis. Sometimes from people in my own scene, even my own band. People were being brainwashed by the pro-war propaganda on TV and in the media, They wanted to create a “perfect enemy” so people would support the war. I did what I could to use my art to subvert the media, to undistort, and then redistort the perception of what it means to be called “muslim”. Art is meant to challenge your perceptions right?

Islam is not a monolith, there is no one cartoon character version of what a muslim is, and to reduce people to oversimplifications is dehumanization. Some people are cultural muslims, some are religious muslims, some are ex-muslims, some are queer muslims, some people are all of those things combined, and that is fucking ok, humans are complex, and that is not even talking about the vast variances in all the practices that people bring from their countries and cultures of origin.

In Taqwacore I saw the possibility for the sort anarcho-sufism I had been looking for, and even if it didn’t turn out to be that at least this community of artists would understand and relate, unlike the majority of people I had met who thought Pakistan was in the Middle East. I would try and talk to people about hate crimes and people would dismiss me, and say I was being paranoid.

So basically I decided artistically, to challenge everything, in the true spirit of punk rock I challenged and pissed off everyone, old punks, new punks, orthodox muslim, bigots, EVERYONE! Because I was fed up with dehumanization and isolation. That climate of igonrance has only gotten worse in the years since. Now we have potential presidential candidates gaining support for their racist rhetoric, Hate crimes are on the rise, right now we need humans of all types creating content in opposition to the bullshit.

Dominique Sisley (Dazed): Do you feel like the movement had some flaws, in retrospect?

Omar Pitras Waqar: Of course, initially I was shocked how few american people understood what we were doing, so many people thought it was us trying to preach religion, and didn’t understand the nuance of it, mostly because they didn’t even know enough about islam to get the philosophical stuff or the satire, which was annoying. I was dreaming up a world of sufi-punks, crusty kids who where the anti-capitalist answer to Bulleh Shah, and many of the people didn’t have a frame of reference for islamic esotericism or even understand the link between counter cultures of the past and now.

Also I think at the time, taqwacore as a movement didn’t do enough to talk about or bring attention to misogyny, the erasure of queerness and the anti-blackness both in the muslim community and outside of it.

Dominique Sisley (Dazed): How does your music reflect your identity as a muslim male?

Omar Pitras Waqar: My music is as complicated as me, and my identity. it reflects a love of screaming guitars and south asian classical music, Of sufi poetry, and 90’s hip hop, Pakistani marxist poets, and anarcho-punk bands, between whirling dervishes and dance-punk, it sees the similarities between these things, it is love and separation, sung with the language of feminine verbs, it celebrates and challenges simultaneously. these are ancient concepts, I am just revisiting traditions that were stolen from us by the colonizers. Things that were erased from history books, in order to further a racist narrative. I don’t want to live in check boxes on a census. I’m not a “muslim male”, i’m the consciousness that lives in Omar’s body.

Dominique Sisley (Dazed): Similarly, do you feel frustrated by the fact that your religion is always mentioned when you are discussing your music?

Omar Pitras Waqar: The sufi Abdul Wahab said, “love forgives all religion” That is where I am at right now. I’m seeking to be free of dogma, so yes it is annoying to have to deal with over simplified questions about my relationship to islam this vast non-monolithic thing. Because for many people I will just be that muslim guy soundbite. But just like them I am seeking love and greater understanding. How can every moment of my life not be politicized when I have to bare witness to the circus of bigotry and hatred that people feed into constantly. How many Omars are being regularly killed by drones? How many Justins?

I think most people into my music are with me on that journey or are in a similar place. There is a lot of problematic stuff about all religions, and ideologies. I need to address them, and that is what I do in my art. I call out the white supremacy in the world of science and academia, and the sexism and homophobia in religion simultaneously because I need to address all that shit.

Dominique Sisley (Dazed): What would you like to change about the industry?

Omar Pitras Waqar: I want to see something new. Something really challenging. I want artist to be completely free, I want them to be able to fund their own works, so they can make actual statements. I’m sick of people of color being tokenized or erased. I’m sick of my voice being silenced.

I want to see a Sci-fi movie, some post apocalyptic thing where all the oppressed people are just unfazed, just chill'n drinking mango juice, because they lived in ruins before the “fall of civilization” anyway, so they are gonna be alright. They live under oppression and subjugation already so they don’t give a fuck about some “extraterrestrial invaders.” That narrative that people watch over and over, is done. It’s boring.

Dominique Sisley (Dazed): How has your sound evolved since the days of Taqwacore? What are you up to now?

Back when I was first involved in Taqwacore I was fronting Diacritical, and while I was writing songs about identity politics and dealing with racism, while exploring the mixture of sitar and guitar and the use of ragas and tabla, I didn’t have the complex musical understanding I needed to really do justice to the music I wanted to make, so I spent many years studying Hindustani Classical music, specifically Sitar and Vocal and I went to Berklee for songwriting, but I never lost my desire to make music that was as complex, nuanced and as human as me.

Right now I front the mystical dance-punk band “Sarmust” we just finished up our record and are about to enter the crowd funding stage to release it. and I’m also in this sort of electro-sufi dance project called EVILARTFORM which mixes 808 drum machine, sampling and cassette loop drone. I’m going into the studio now to record a record with that project it should be out before next year.

Music past and present:

Diacritical - Ignorance 2007 produced by Don Zientara, Inner Ear Studios
(This song was written by me in reaction to a hate crime committed against my uncle)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyoG6anMvKo

Sarmust.com

@Sarmust on instagram

Sarmust - Dangerous Dogma
http://sarmust.bandcamp.com/album/dangerous-dogma

Sarmust - No more Shadows
http://sarmust.bandcamp.com/album/no-more-shadows

Follow Evilartform on Vine for behind the scenes stuff and clips my recent East Coast tour
https://vine.co/EVILARTFORM

Evilartform.com

Evilartform - best bundle 10 years of experimental electronic music (86 tracks)
https://soundcloud.com/evilartform/sets/the-best-of-evilartform

Evilartform - Hail Us @ Black Cat DC
(This is a live clip, a song is about drones)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWGqhtRR9qM

Evilartform Promo:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bv8tCIV5jqE
(Cassette Sacrifice: Revolutionizing the way electronic music is performed live. Evilartform comes out with a new series of Improvised Cassette Manipulations. Merging analog cassette with classic 808 sounds.)

afixsen Interview with Omar Waqar

Anna :

What got you into music originally? As you developed as an artist, why did you make the decision to preserve your Pakistani roots in your music, rather than completely assimilate into DC hardcore/punk culture?

Omar:

I got into music as an outlet, it was cathartic and helped me deal with difficult things i was going through in my childhood, I got put onto to rock by bands like Nirvana, ironically a south asian name. Identity politics is a heavy topic for a kid, back then i was just trying to figure out who i was, what i was, was way too difficult to answer, but i think that because i grew up with multiple cultures and enjoyed them all, i wanted to draw from that, and may be feeling alienated made me want to understand my roots more, so i studied indian classical music, and got into sufism, thought if i could apply that knowledge to my DIY/punk schooling i might be able to create something that told my whole story. btw, there is nothing punk rock about assimilation.

Anna:

How did your family receive your interest in rock music?

Omar:

I was raised by a south asian single mother, and she was very supportive of my interest in music as a hobby, i think when i decided it was going to be the focus of my life she was worried about my future, and financial stability, and may be the cultural stigma attached to musicians, but i think any parent would have the same kind of concerns, i don't think she really understood my fascination with punk when i was growing up but later on as i became an adult it started to make more sense to her, and she could relate it to her own love for the radical poetry of faiz ahmed faiz or habib jalib.

Anna:

Do you think those of South Asian and Middle Eastern descent are underrepresented in the indie and mainstream punk rock scenes?

Omar:

when i was coming up, it definitely felt as though there were few people who i could identify with, as far as south asian or whatever in the music scene but it has all changed, we are doing big things all over in every genre, not even just punk. I watched it change around me with my own eyes, may be i was actively seeking it out and that is why i found it, there was an awesome band from DC called Gist that had a south asian singer and played some straight up killer post-hardcore shit with gnarly guitar sounds and awesome grooves, and then later on i found out about alien kulture (1979 UK pakistanis) who have been around since the birth of punk, Cornershop did that tune England's dreaming totally a punk tune back in the day, The Cassettes (vaudeville steam-punk) from DC had an awesome south asian drummer, and The Kominas (from Boston) came along and really helped shine light on all that was going on among the disenfranchised youth, and managed to stay snotty and satirical. Kervin (who changed their name to not now right now) from NYC made big political noise for a while, RAI KO RIS the anarcho punk band, originally from Nepal is still doing it up i think, Co-ven from pakistan killed it on the rooftops and fearlessly challenged authority , then you got Sunny Ali and the kid bringing it out of Philly, and man, tons of other bands that might lend to a similar experience , off the top of my head...Vegan Reich, Al-Thawra, Fearless Iranians from Hell, Hassan I Sabbah, drunkin sufis, CCCP, king khan and the shrines, Hoffle Stoff Awaffogus,The Riot Peddlers, Street Stories, hypernova, Take It Easy Hospital, Yankee Bang Bang… I even started to notice references from bands that i had grown up with, Pixies - river euphrates... "stuck here out of gas out here on the gaza strip" Vandals had a song called "allah" where they sing verses from the qu'ran, Dayglo abortions have a tune called I wanna be an east indian, Angelic upstarts had a song called guns for the afghan rebels, i even started to find more stuff as i did research into older music there was a compilation put out in india by the Simla cigaret company called simla beat 70/71 has all kinds of cool garage rock type jams, like Confusions - voice from the inner soul, and pakistan had a booming surf rock things in the late 60's you can check out The Panthers - Malkaus , and tons of other bands from that era as well. that is why i love music, you have an experience you need a soundtrack to the story of your life, if you seek it out, you will find it, the songs and notions are out there floating around in our collective human consciousness, sometimes for the more obscure stuff we just have to keep our eyes and ears peeled find them.

Anna:

How can those who live in countries where political activism is shunned--- especially for female punk bands such as Pragraash and Pussy Riot— have an artistic voice for themselves?

Omar:

What happened with pragraash is complete bullshit, women are equal to men, if they want to fucking rock, they will, and should, shit like this happens when humans think they are somehow ordained with the right to dictate god's will. If there is a god in heaven and it is the creator of a whole universe of vibrations, why would it care if some ladies on a distant planet in a galaxy far away decided to crank it up and make some vibrations too. I hope they get back together and keep doing there thing.

the reality is people need to wake up, people are not going to just shut up because you try to keep them in line, doesn't matter if you are male, female, transgendered or whatever if you are being alienated you better make some noise and draw attention to what is happening, Yes that kind of action is disruptive to culture, but sometimes you gotta interrupt a conversation in order to get heard, some people think its rude, other people think its necessary. The media does there part to draw attention to things but then when the story is done being sensational they forget about it... so we have to keep shouting until everyone can hear us.

Anna:

What made you tire of Taqwacore? Is it even a relevant point of discussion any more?

Omar:

i just got burned out on it, it went so far over so many peoples heads that it was discouraging, i mean it was awesome to me that we pissed off our punk rock idols and fundamentalists at the same time, but when people starting to talk about it as though it was a specifically religious thing i realized that most did not fully grasp the nuances of the satirical, and social commentary that was going on, and i just thought... man fuck this i'm gonna go work on some new songs now.

Anna:

Omar Pitras Waqar is the frontman for washington dc based indie rock/ dance punk band Sarmust former lead singer of the DC band Diacritical and the brains behind the electronic dance madness of EvilArtForm