Yahya Kayak & Pinewoods - Salatullah (2014)
I have met a few Muslims from Finland, some of them quite progressive, so I'm not entirely surprised this album was made there - and, of all places, in the neighborhood Arabianranta of Helsinki, which doesn't derive its name from Arabs exactly, but from the brand of a ceramics factory!...
Still, I'm blown away. This was released 10 years ago, but it sounds like what is yet to come as Muslim music of the future (though one can argue that future has begun by now, with the likes of Ali Sethi and Jaar's Intiha). Needless to say, it flies in the face of Islamic pseudo-traditionalism which claims that our Muslim ears should refrain from all music which makes use of instruments. Here we have a plethora of instruments, yet they perform by turns, and creating interest to the music without overpowering the vocal part - Islamic chanting in Arabic and spoken word poetry in Finnish...
Now one might judge me for rating this highly based on sound, and without understanding all the words - I do wish sometimes I had moved to Finland and attempted learning Finnish... -, and I should be all the more concerned when taking into account that Yahya Kayak was and is primarily a rapper, and one that has seemingly went on to release secular hip-hop after this experimental album... So I'm not sure what to make of this brother, but I'll go on a limb and assume he's at least a bit less problematic than the usual righteous figures in the Muslim diaspora public space... All I can say is that the vibe alone is on point, and the production can only be considered model worthy.