Y.Misdaq aka Yoshi
Encyclopedia
Y. Misdaq aka Yoshi is a multimedia artist and founder of the arts website Nefisa, which also doubles as an independent media label- Nefisa UK. Since 2004 he has released three LPs, three documentaries and two novels, as well as appearing on numerous works as writer, filmmaker, and performer. Y. Misdaq aka Yoshi has been featured in magazines like The WIRE
, Hip-Hop Connection
, Stylus
, The Source, Punk Planet
, EMEL
, Naked Punch Review (Online Edition) and others. Upon the publication of his debut novel
in June 2007, Misdaq's work was also featured on television on BBC
Television & Radio. More recently he was featured on NPR
in the United States. and PRI
internationally. Misdaq was also present in Benghazi at the onset of the 2011 Libyan civilian uprising against Muammar Ghadaffi, which he covered alongside Anjali Kamat for Democracy Now!
.
, Y. Misdaq was born and raised in Brighton on the south coast of England. His father, Dr. Nabi Misdaq
, is an eminent scholar and author on the social and political history of Afghanistan
and was also head of the BBC World Service
Pashto Section - which he founded - for a decade in the 1990s. His mother, Arian Misdaq, also an Afghan, is a pscyho-analyst specializing in multi-cultural counseling, working with CMHS.
In 2002 he began Nefisa, a somewhat amorphous arts collective which featured frequent updates and comment on creative, spiritual and political topics by Misdaq. It also featured the early work of many other artists including Julia Clark-Lowes, Daniel Cordani & MichL Britsch amongst others. Misdaq frequently used the website to comment upon immediate news-events such as the Iraq War, the 7/7 bombings of London
and the Danish cartoon controversy - for which Misdaq wrote a combined short-story and article which was spread widely across the internet in the days following the initial reaction. It was similarly a small creatively-tinged hub for community action such as annual soup-drives for the homeless of the city of Brighton and anti-war marches in both Brighton and London alike.
His music debut, 'From a Western Box' (released on Nefisa UK) is described as political hip-hop fused with electronica and was relatively well-received by the underground press. A PRI radio show called 'Taking on the Taliban' also featured the title track when it aired in the usa, November 2009.
It was described by Punk Planet
as,
UK Hip-Hop also reviewed the album, claiming it was,
Finally, Stylus Magazine
,
Track-Listing
Second release 'Flowers & Trees' (also released on Nefisa UK) was considerably more positive and also slightly more traditional in terms of the hip-hop tracks featured. Just like his debut, 'Flowers & Trees' also contained an almost equal-split between instrumental songs and vocal ones. This album was also notorious for being marketed with a free piece of nature inside the CD-case, which online customers could choose from (such choices as white-flowers, cherry-blossoms, grass and even oxygen were available).
The WIRE Magazine
said that Yoshi's,
Hip-Hop Connection
's Adam Anonymous, gave 'Flowers & Trees' 4 out of 5 Stars, beating off competition from the likes of Snoop Dog with the highest rating that month.
Yoshi played the album tracks live on many occasions, playing in Brighton at the Pav Tav, Engine Rooms, Enigma, London in Richmond, and the Ritzy Cinema
in Brixton
and at the International Convention Centre, Birmingham
amongst others. The title track was also played on national radio through the BBC's 1xtra station in June 2005.
Track-Listing
Misdaq's third LP, coming some five years after his sophomore effort, signaled a somewhat dramatic evolution from his previous work. Maghreb Isha & Space (Arabic words connoting the sunset and evening prayers) combined numerous concepts of Islamic mysticism with abstract 'sections' of music, including live Afghan (and Western) folk-music, as well as that of the Far-East. Lyrically, it also deepened a fascination with 'wordlessness' in lyrics, with Misdaq citing the Cocteau Twins
as an influence in this regard, on an interview available with the albums mini-site. Most of the LP was recorded in single takes and with live instrumentation (as opposed to sampling) with Misdaq playing Harmonium
, Rubab and Guitar
and Gimbri on numerous songs, while largely for the first time, singing (his more staple delivery of MC'ing only featured on two songs). Like his debut LP, he also donated portions of the sales of this album to charity, this time to Afghan artisans via the Turquoise Mountain
Foundation.
The two videos accompanying the album (Dawn Song & Song of Delicious Affirmation) marked Misdaq's first officially released music videos, displaying prominent themes of Islamic spirituality, improvisational dance (often by Misdaq himself) and 'visual-sampling' from online sources such as youtube
.
Unlike past LP's, Maghreb Isha & Space, released considerably more quietly, does not appear to have received any 'official' reviews from magazines etc. In keeping with tradition, however, the albums bandcamp website does include comments and reviews from Yoshi fans and fellow musicians alike. Most notably, the Seattle avante-rap group Shabazz Palaces
voice their enthusiasm, with frontman Palaceer Lazaro aka Ishmael Butler, saying that he listens to it a lot and likening the experience -somewhat cryptically- to "lilt and water."
Track-Listing
website, which features the song.
First and foremost have been his collaborations with Afghan-American Producer/MC Diamondscepter, who lent a beat and lyrics to Yoshi's debut, and also produced a track on 'Flowers & Trees', co-producing the title track. Since 2001 they had an online fan-page purportedly run by NBA basketball coach Jeff Van Gundy
, who is a huge fan of their work as a duo. This was subsequently removed in 2009 when geocities stopped functioning.
Yoshi has worked on much of his more left-field music with Mikrosopht (aka Ben Kelly). On Mikrosopht's net-label Godxiliary, Yoshi contributed his lyrics and spoken-word vocals to the album C-WILD (which was in turn re-used and remixed on Atom™
's recent LP 'Son of a Glitch'). Mikrosopht & Yoshi also released a duet-album in June 2007 called Dual Mule, on the Godxiliary imprint, which has the subtitle, 'experiments in improvisational sound'. Yoshi also appeared with Mikrosopht, and fellow producer/friend Michl Britsch, on a Beatles mash-up
album entitled, 'Hippocamp Ruins Sgt. Peppers'
Victrola (Victor Ramos) is a producer known primarily for his work in the Illinois Hip-Hop duo Mana Republic and has worked with Yoshi on various tracks. The only releases thus far have been the Victrola produced track on, 'The Hearing' (on which Yoshi raps) and Victrola's first solo EP, 'Flores, Nubes y Parajitos' on which Yoshi raps on the track, SubwayFN. On this track, Yoshi is said to be assuming the personality of a flower, while fellow MC J-Shillz personifies a cloud. This EP was released on Hippocamp.
Yoshi also wrote a chorus which was sung by two-members of the Pipettes
(Becki & former member Julia) for his Flowers & Trees song, When U See The Future.
A short-documentary by Y.Misdaq aka Yoshi, S. Windericxx & N. Karlsson, about a soup-kitchen providing for the homeless people of Brighton. This documentary was selected for a special screening at the 2005 Brighton Film-Festival in the Duke of York's Picture House
.
A 15-minute documentary, filmed directed and edited by Y.Misdaq depicts the mental struggle of an artist in the midst of a creative block. It was first screened at Royal Holloway University of London in March 2007.
Misdaq was also present in Benghazi
, Libya
as cameraman, editor & producer for the news & current affairs program Democracy Now!
during the shows in-the-field reporting at the outset of the Libyan civilian uprising in February/March 2011. Alongside Democracy Now presenter Anjali Kamut, he filed two stories, one on the exodus of African workers from Libya and the other a feature on an improvised Media Center constructed by the Libyan rebels.
'Pieces of a paki' is the debut novel of Y.Misdaq aka Yoshi and is being published under his real name, Yusuf Misdaq, by Nefisa UK in association with the University of Sussex
press. It is set in a near-future Britain and was featured briefly in the March edition of EMEL Magazine
It is listed on Amazon as being, "A coming-of-age and Utopian/Dystopian novel rolled into one." British reviewers compared it favorably to Orwell
's 1984 and Roald Dahl
's Matilda
, which underscore the genre-bending elements within the book.
A two-way collaboration with German photographer Harry Nizard, Frozen Fountain is the first book to contain Misdaq's poetry, set to the multi-layered photographs of Nizard. Highly abstract and somewhat open-ended both visually and textually, some themes explored include the inside universe, the nature of belief, beauty, the human body and lust. As of 2009 the book also became available to view online.
The Steep Ascent, so named after an ayah
from the Holy Quran, was an online project of Man in Gutter (aka Yusuf Misdaq) written during Ramadan 2010. The ambitious concept was to write an entire book during the month itself, which Misdaq completed, one chapter and one day at a time until day 29 where the story ended. Concordant with the title, the writing - which is a blend of both morality and extreme-satire - plays on several 'bad-guy' stereotypes, and draws heavily from the Quran and traditional forms of oral-culture, Sufi storytelling. Mo, a young rising star in an unnamed corporate world, befriends Asad, a hot dog vendor. At present the novel has been taken offline and listed as 'private' amidst rumors that it has been picked up for publication.
A book of poems and illustrations, Into Solidity contains a foreword from the prominent Rumi explicator and poet Raficq Abdulla
, Into Solidity appears to be part of a poetry series, likely the same one mentioned in the Reiger interview below (see collaborations). Misdaq is credited as author and illustrator and the cover features a striking painting. In the author's unusual preface there is an admission that the project was originally intended to be created with a hardback cover of ice, with translucent pages made of glass. It signals some of Misdaq's darkest work to date.
In November 2006 he performed at a "poetry sama" organized by Q-News at London's prestigious RADA
alongside Islamic scholar Abdul Hakim Murad
& poet Daniel Abdul-Hayy Moore.
Misdaq has expressed an admiration for Suzi Gablik, Robert Fisk
and Amy Goodman
amongst others on his arts website, nefisa. He also conducted a lengthy interview with illbient
dub musician and pioneering CEO of the Wordsound record label Skiz Fernando
in 2003, shortly after the Iraq invasion. This was also a special feature on Nefisa.
Misdaq has named experimental writer Lawrence Ytzhak Braithwaite
and poet Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore as personal friends in the literary-world. Moore has quoted comments by Misdaq on the back of two of his most recent books 'Abdallah Jones & the Disappearing-Dust Caper' and 'Underwater Galaxies'. Misdaq has also written literary reviews for Moore's numerous works, appearing in such magazines as Illume, EMEL
& online with DeenPort.
Throughout 2009 and 2010, Misdaq collaborated with poet and author Raficq Abdulla
MBE, on two extended poetry renga
's, the last of which was performed in Kensington, London (in the studio of artists Francesco Cincotta and Ariane Braillard). The piece, which went back and forth several times, dealt with topics as varied as the invasion of Gaza, the rivalry between Tennis Champions Roger Federer
and Raphael Nadal, and the origin of words. While commenting on the 'beauty' of the performance, Misdaq also revealed on his myspace blog that the most telling moment of the evening came before the audience arrived for the performance, when he helped unblock a toilet.
The Wire (magazine)
The Wire is a British avant garde music magazine, founded in 1982 by jazz promoter Anthony Wood and journalist Chrissie Murray. The magazine initially concentrated on contemporary jazz and improvised music, but branched out in the early 1990s to various types of experimental music...
, Hip-Hop Connection
Hip Hop Connection
Hip Hop Connection is the longest running monthly periodical devoted entirely to hip hop culture. HHC has earned international recognition and was described by Chuck D as "the best magazine in the world".-History:...
, Stylus
Stylus Magazine
Stylus Magazine was an online music and film magazine launched in 2002. It featured long-form music journalism, four daily music reviews, movie reviews, a number of different podcasts, an MP3 blog, and a text blog....
, The Source, Punk Planet
Punk Planet
Punk Planet was a 16,000 print run punk zine, based in Chicago, Illinois, that focused most of its energy on looking at punk subculture rather than punk as simply another genre of music to which teenagers listen. In addition to covering music, Punk Planet also covered visual arts and a wide...
, EMEL
Emel magazine
Emel is a British lifestyle magazine that celebrates contemporary British Muslim culture. The magazine's name comes from the letters "M" and "L", which stand for "Muslim Life", and also resembles the Arabic word for "hope". Sarah Joseph, a Muslim convert, is the founder and current editor...
, Naked Punch Review (Online Edition) and others. Upon the publication of his debut novel
Debut novel
A debut novel is the first novel an author publishes. Debut novels are the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to publish in the future...
in June 2007, Misdaq's work was also featured on television on BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
Television & Radio. More recently he was featured on NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
in the United States. and PRI
Public Radio International
Public Radio International is a Minneapolis-based American public radio organization, with locations in Boston, New York, London and Beijing. PRI's tagline is "Hear a different voice." PRI is a major public media content creator and also distributes programs from many sources...
internationally. Misdaq was also present in Benghazi at the onset of the 2011 Libyan civilian uprising against Muammar Ghadaffi, which he covered alongside Anjali Kamat for Democracy Now!
Democracy Now!
Democracy Now! and its staff have received several journalism awards, including the Gracie Award from American Women in Radio & Television; the George Polk Award for its 1998 radio documentary Drilling and Killing: Chevron and Nigeria's Oil Dictatorship, on the Chevron Corporation and the deaths of...
.
Emergence
An ethnic Zazai PashtunPashtun people
Pashtuns or Pathans , also known as ethnic Afghans , are an Eastern Iranic ethnic group with populations primarily between the Hindu Kush mountains in Afghanistan and the Indus River in Pakistan...
, Y. Misdaq was born and raised in Brighton on the south coast of England. His father, Dr. Nabi Misdaq
Nabi Misdaq
Dr. Nabi Misdaq is an author and a journalist in Afghanistan. He was the founder and head of the Pashto Section at BBC World Service in the early 1980s.- Origins and education :...
, is an eminent scholar and author on the social and political history of Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
and was also head of the BBC World Service
BBC World Service
The BBC World Service is the world's largest international broadcaster, broadcasting in 27 languages to many parts of the world via analogue and digital shortwave, internet streaming and podcasting, satellite, FM and MW relays...
Pashto Section - which he founded - for a decade in the 1990s. His mother, Arian Misdaq, also an Afghan, is a pscyho-analyst specializing in multi-cultural counseling, working with CMHS.
In 2002 he began Nefisa, a somewhat amorphous arts collective which featured frequent updates and comment on creative, spiritual and political topics by Misdaq. It also featured the early work of many other artists including Julia Clark-Lowes, Daniel Cordani & MichL Britsch amongst others. Misdaq frequently used the website to comment upon immediate news-events such as the Iraq War, the 7/7 bombings of London
7 July 2005 London bombings
The 7 July 2005 London bombings were a series of co-ordinated suicide attacks in the United Kingdom, targeting civilians using London's public transport system during the morning rush hour....
and the Danish cartoon controversy - for which Misdaq wrote a combined short-story and article which was spread widely across the internet in the days following the initial reaction. It was similarly a small creatively-tinged hub for community action such as annual soup-drives for the homeless of the city of Brighton and anti-war marches in both Brighton and London alike.
From a Western Box
(Released March 5, 2004)His music debut, 'From a Western Box' (released on Nefisa UK) is described as political hip-hop fused with electronica and was relatively well-received by the underground press. A PRI radio show called 'Taking on the Taliban' also featured the title track when it aired in the usa, November 2009.
It was described by Punk Planet
Punk Planet
Punk Planet was a 16,000 print run punk zine, based in Chicago, Illinois, that focused most of its energy on looking at punk subculture rather than punk as simply another genre of music to which teenagers listen. In addition to covering music, Punk Planet also covered visual arts and a wide...
as,
"An effortless combination of electronica, hip-hop & the stylised mood of ambient...Yoshi lays down tight tracks with smart vocal infusions and political narratives." (Sep/Oct issue #63)."
UK Hip-Hop also reviewed the album, claiming it was,
"What hip-hop always was about, appropriating and re-interpreting the heritage of the old-school."
Finally, Stylus Magazine
Stylus Magazine
Stylus Magazine was an online music and film magazine launched in 2002. It featured long-form music journalism, four daily music reviews, movie reviews, a number of different podcasts, an MP3 blog, and a text blog....
,
"Yoshi comes from a world where Sergio LeoneSergio LeoneSergio Leone was an Italian film director, producer and screenwriter most associated with the "Spaghetti Western" genre.Leone's film-making style includes juxtaposing extreme close-up shots with lengthy long shots...
, the RZARZARobert Fitzgerald Diggs, better known by his stage name RZA , is an American Grammy-winning music producer, multi-instrumentalist, author, emcee, and occasional actor, director, and screenwriter. A prominent figure in Hip Hop, RZA is the de facto leader of the Wu-Tang Clan. He has produced almost...
, anti-establishmentAnti-establishmentAn anti-establishment view or belief is one which stands in opposition to the conventional social, political, and economic principles of a society. The term was first used in the modern sense in 1958, by the British magazine New Statesman to refer to its political and social agenda...
politics, Middle Eastern strife, ambient Hip Hop, Akira KurosawaAkira Kurosawawas a Japanese film director, producer, screenwriter and editor. Regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema, Kurosawa directed 30 filmsIn 1946, Kurosawa co-directed, with Hideo Sekigawa and Kajiro Yamamoto, the feature Those Who Make Tomorrow ;...
and potent skunk exist in harmony...Managing to sound both ominous and chilled at the same time, this is obviously a deeply personal record about skewed perspectives, about looking at the UK from its marginal areas and wondering whether you're a part of it." (Nick Southall)
Track-Listing
- "Tears from a Box (Intro)" – 0:51
- "The Sickness (Digital Living)" – 4:42
- "A'salaam Alaikum, How Do U Do?" – 4:16
- "Idol Smash" – 3:53
- "Karzai Splits" – 1:05
- "My View" – 3:23
- "Sunline" – 5:32
- "From a Western Box" – 5:03
- "Guantanamo Convo (Skit)" – 0:38
- "Misty" – 7:32
- "Nightmare on Terror" – 4:04
- "Untitled Hidden Track" – 4:09
Flowers & Trees
(Released May 17, 2005)Second release 'Flowers & Trees' (also released on Nefisa UK) was considerably more positive and also slightly more traditional in terms of the hip-hop tracks featured. Just like his debut, 'Flowers & Trees' also contained an almost equal-split between instrumental songs and vocal ones. This album was also notorious for being marketed with a free piece of nature inside the CD-case, which online customers could choose from (such choices as white-flowers, cherry-blossoms, grass and even oxygen were available).
The WIRE Magazine
The Wire (magazine)
The Wire is a British avant garde music magazine, founded in 1982 by jazz promoter Anthony Wood and journalist Chrissie Murray. The magazine initially concentrated on contemporary jazz and improvised music, but branched out in the early 1990s to various types of experimental music...
said that Yoshi's,
While also praising his
"Art, as well as his heart, is in the right place."
"Lateral sound leaps and abrupt left-turns."
Hip-Hop Connection
Hip Hop Connection
Hip Hop Connection is the longest running monthly periodical devoted entirely to hip hop culture. HHC has earned international recognition and was described by Chuck D as "the best magazine in the world".-History:...
's Adam Anonymous, gave 'Flowers & Trees' 4 out of 5 Stars, beating off competition from the likes of Snoop Dog with the highest rating that month.
"Brighton-born Yoshi is a real one-man DIY operation, thankfully without ever compromising quality... Marrying DJ ShadowDJ ShadowJoshua Paul Davis better known as DJ Shadow is an American music producer, DJ and songwriter. He is considered a prominent figure in the development of instrumental hip hop and first gained notice with the release of his highly acclaimed debut album Endtroducing....., which was constructed...
's aural patchwork approach with Danger MouseDanger MouseBrian Joseph Burton , better known by his stage name Danger Mouse, is an American musician, songwriter and producer. He came to prominence in 2004 when he released The Grey Album, which combined vocal performances from Jay-Z's The Black Album with instrumentals from The Beatles' White Album.He...
's disregard for sample chiefing, Yoshi is patently enjoying complete freedom of sound... Beautiful."
Yoshi played the album tracks live on many occasions, playing in Brighton at the Pav Tav, Engine Rooms, Enigma, London in Richmond, and the Ritzy Cinema
Ritzy Cinema
The Ritzy is a cinema in Brixton, South London, United Kingdom.The cinema opened on 11 March 1911 as 'the Electric Pavilion'. It was built by E. C. Homer and Lucas for Israel Davis, one of a noted family of cinema developers, and was one of England's earliest purpose built cinemas seating over 750...
in Brixton
Brixton
Brixton is a district in the London Borough of Lambeth in south London, England. It is south south-east of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London....
and at the International Convention Centre, Birmingham
International Convention Centre, Birmingham
The International Convention Centre is a major conference venue in central Birmingham, England. The centre includes Symphony Hall and it faces Centenary Square. The building has another entrance leading to the canals of Birmingham. The Convention Quarter area, which includes Brindleyplace, is...
amongst others. The title track was also played on national radio through the BBC's 1xtra station in June 2005.
Track-Listing
- "Planting a Seed" – 3:41
- "When U See The Future" – 5:03
- "Dami / The Beautiful Truth" – 3:57
- "Dream" – 4:26
- "'Scepter & Yoshi Talkin'" – 3:55
- "Flowers & Trees" – 5:04
- "Intermission" – 0:29
- "The Funk" – 4:46
- "Afghan Eagle" – 1:07
- "Afghan Eagle Descending" – 4:17
- "Under" – 1:13
- "Bubbles Babies Magic" – 2:20
- "No-one Can, Will" – 6:01
- "Home (Hidden Track)" – 2:36
Maghreb, Isha & Space
(March 23, 2010, CD)Misdaq's third LP, coming some five years after his sophomore effort, signaled a somewhat dramatic evolution from his previous work. Maghreb Isha & Space (Arabic words connoting the sunset and evening prayers) combined numerous concepts of Islamic mysticism with abstract 'sections' of music, including live Afghan (and Western) folk-music, as well as that of the Far-East. Lyrically, it also deepened a fascination with 'wordlessness' in lyrics, with Misdaq citing the Cocteau Twins
Cocteau Twins
Cocteau Twins were a Scottish alternative rock band active from 1979 to 1997, known for innovative instrumentation and atmospheric, non-lyrical vocals...
as an influence in this regard, on an interview available with the albums mini-site. Most of the LP was recorded in single takes and with live instrumentation (as opposed to sampling) with Misdaq playing Harmonium
Harmonium
A harmonium is a free-standing keyboard instrument similar to a reed organ. Sound is produced by air being blown through sets of free reeds, resulting in a sound similar to that of an accordion...
, Rubab and Guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
and Gimbri on numerous songs, while largely for the first time, singing (his more staple delivery of MC'ing only featured on two songs). Like his debut LP, he also donated portions of the sales of this album to charity, this time to Afghan artisans via the Turquoise Mountain
Turquoise Mountain
The Turquoise Mountain is the lost Afghan capital of the Middle Ages. It was reputedly one of the greatest cities of its age, but was destroyed by Ögedei Khan, son of Genghis Khan, in the early 1220s and lost to history. It has been proposed that the magnificent Minaret of Jam, in Shahrak...
Foundation.
The two videos accompanying the album (Dawn Song & Song of Delicious Affirmation) marked Misdaq's first officially released music videos, displaying prominent themes of Islamic spirituality, improvisational dance (often by Misdaq himself) and 'visual-sampling' from online sources such as youtube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
.
Unlike past LP's, Maghreb Isha & Space, released considerably more quietly, does not appear to have received any 'official' reviews from magazines etc. In keeping with tradition, however, the albums bandcamp website does include comments and reviews from Yoshi fans and fellow musicians alike. Most notably, the Seattle avante-rap group Shabazz Palaces
Shabazz Palaces
Shabazz Palaces are a Seattle-based hip-hop collective, led by Ishmael Butler aka 'Palaceer Lazaro' and multi-instrumentalist Tendai Maraire, son of Mbira master Dumisani Maraire...
voice their enthusiasm, with frontman Palaceer Lazaro aka Ishmael Butler, saying that he listens to it a lot and likening the experience -somewhat cryptically- to "lilt and water."
Track-Listing
- "Dawn Song" – 5:41
- "Mika's Morning Song" – 2:20
- "Enough is Enough Day (1st Prelude)" – 4:10
- "Oma-Say, Oma-Sah, a Makusa (The Journalists, The Audience & The Artist)" –
- "Freestyle in McDonalds" – 3:50
- "Time Ain't on Your Side" – 3:46
- "I am Alone (2nd Prelude)" – 2:46
- "No Mystery" – 4:08
- "Falling Asleep on the Ride Home (Happiness)" – 2:54
- "Dream Suite: i) Toki / The Untangling ii) Song of Delicious Affirmation iii) Returning Dream about Eternity / The Stars in Space" – 9:41
- "Love Song" – 5:14
- "The Golden Circle (Binds with Love)" – 4:54
Collaborations & B-Sides
In 2004 Yoshi remixed a song by DJ Shadow, Blood on the Motorway (No More Bush-Fires - The Life Remix). According to the press-release of his debut album, this remains one of the more popular downloads on the official SolesidesSolesides
Solesides was an underground hip hop label based in Northern California, founded in 1991. It comprised various DJs and MCs, the most notable being DJ Shadow, MC–producer Lyrics Born, and the duo, Blackalicious. The members of Solesides all met via the radio station, KDVS, the 5000-watt community...
website, which features the song.
First and foremost have been his collaborations with Afghan-American Producer/MC Diamondscepter, who lent a beat and lyrics to Yoshi's debut, and also produced a track on 'Flowers & Trees', co-producing the title track. Since 2001 they had an online fan-page purportedly run by NBA basketball coach Jeff Van Gundy
Jeff Van Gundy
Jeffrey William "Jeff" Van Gundy is a former American basketball head coach. He coached most recently with the National Basketball Association's Houston Rockets...
, who is a huge fan of their work as a duo. This was subsequently removed in 2009 when geocities stopped functioning.
Yoshi has worked on much of his more left-field music with Mikrosopht (aka Ben Kelly). On Mikrosopht's net-label Godxiliary, Yoshi contributed his lyrics and spoken-word vocals to the album C-WILD (which was in turn re-used and remixed on Atom™
Uwe Schmidt
Uwe Schmidt , is a German composer, musician and producer of electronic music. He is often regarded as the father of electrolatino, electrogospel and acitón music.- Career :...
's recent LP 'Son of a Glitch'). Mikrosopht & Yoshi also released a duet-album in June 2007 called Dual Mule, on the Godxiliary imprint, which has the subtitle, 'experiments in improvisational sound'. Yoshi also appeared with Mikrosopht, and fellow producer/friend Michl Britsch, on a Beatles mash-up
Mashup (music)
A mashup or bootleg is a song or composition created by blending two or more pre-recorded songs, usually by overlaying the vocal track of one song seamlessly over the instrumental track of another...
album entitled, 'Hippocamp Ruins Sgt. Peppers'
Victrola (Victor Ramos) is a producer known primarily for his work in the Illinois Hip-Hop duo Mana Republic and has worked with Yoshi on various tracks. The only releases thus far have been the Victrola produced track on, 'The Hearing' (on which Yoshi raps) and Victrola's first solo EP, 'Flores, Nubes y Parajitos' on which Yoshi raps on the track, SubwayFN. On this track, Yoshi is said to be assuming the personality of a flower, while fellow MC J-Shillz personifies a cloud. This EP was released on Hippocamp.
Yoshi also wrote a chorus which was sung by two-members of the Pipettes
The Pipettes
The Pipettes are a British indie pop girl group formed in 2003 in Brighton by "svengali" Robert "Monster Bobby" Barry. The group has released two albums, We Are the Pipettes, and Earth vs...
(Becki & former member Julia) for his Flowers & Trees song, When U See The Future.
Soup for Thought
(2005)A short-documentary by Y.Misdaq aka Yoshi, S. Windericxx & N. Karlsson, about a soup-kitchen providing for the homeless people of Brighton. This documentary was selected for a special screening at the 2005 Brighton Film-Festival in the Duke of York's Picture House
Duke of York's Picture House
The Duke of York's Picture House is an art house cinema in Brighton, England. It is the oldest continuously operating purpose built cinema in Britain that has retained both its original name and remains largely unaltered....
.
Let the clouds of America burn Calligraphy onto my Frozen Heart
(2007)A 15-minute documentary, filmed directed and edited by Y.Misdaq depicts the mental struggle of an artist in the midst of a creative block. It was first screened at Royal Holloway University of London in March 2007.
[No Title]
[No title] was included as a DVD with early editions of Misdaq's third LP Maghreb, Isha & Space, and apparently created at roughly the same time as the albums inception (circa cummer 2007). It was screened at the 6th World Islamic Economic Forum in Kuala Lumpur, and also at San Francisco's Culture Unplugged Film Festival where it is currently available to view online.Misdaq was also present in Benghazi
Benghazi
Benghazi is the second largest city in Libya, the main city of the Cyrenaica region , and the former provisional capital of the National Transitional Council. The wider metropolitan area is also a district of Libya...
, Libya
Libya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
as cameraman, editor & producer for the news & current affairs program Democracy Now!
Democracy Now!
Democracy Now! and its staff have received several journalism awards, including the Gracie Award from American Women in Radio & Television; the George Polk Award for its 1998 radio documentary Drilling and Killing: Chevron and Nigeria's Oil Dictatorship, on the Chevron Corporation and the deaths of...
during the shows in-the-field reporting at the outset of the Libyan civilian uprising in February/March 2011. Alongside Democracy Now presenter Anjali Kamut, he filed two stories, one on the exodus of African workers from Libya and the other a feature on an improvised Media Center constructed by the Libyan rebels.
Pieces of a Paki: A Beautiful Story
(2007) Nefisa UK/University of Sussex press. ISBN 978-0-9555024-0-8'Pieces of a paki' is the debut novel of Y.Misdaq aka Yoshi and is being published under his real name, Yusuf Misdaq, by Nefisa UK in association with the University of Sussex
University of Sussex
The University of Sussex is an English public research university situated next to the East Sussex village of Falmer, within the city of Brighton and Hove. The University received its Royal Charter in August 1961....
press. It is set in a near-future Britain and was featured briefly in the March edition of EMEL Magazine
Emel magazine
Emel is a British lifestyle magazine that celebrates contemporary British Muslim culture. The magazine's name comes from the letters "M" and "L", which stand for "Muslim Life", and also resembles the Arabic word for "hope". Sarah Joseph, a Muslim convert, is the founder and current editor...
It is listed on Amazon as being, "A coming-of-age and Utopian/Dystopian novel rolled into one." British reviewers compared it favorably to Orwell
Orwell
Orwell can refer to:*The writer George Orwell and the derived phrase Orwellian*The River Orwell in Suffolk, England*Orwell High School in Suffolk, England*The village of Orwell, Cambridgeshire, England...
's 1984 and Roald Dahl
Roald Dahl
Roald Dahl was a British novelist, short story writer, fighter pilot and screenwriter.Born in Wales to Norwegian parents, he served in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, in which he became a flying ace and intelligence agent, rising to the rank of Wing Commander...
's Matilda
Matilda
-People:* Empress Matilda, daughter of Henry I of England* Matilda , list of people named Matilda* Matilda of Flanders, wife of William the Conqueror* Matilda of Tuscany-Media and entertainment:* Matilda , by Roald Dahl...
, which underscore the genre-bending elements within the book.
Frozen Fountain
(2008). Art book.A two-way collaboration with German photographer Harry Nizard, Frozen Fountain is the first book to contain Misdaq's poetry, set to the multi-layered photographs of Nizard. Highly abstract and somewhat open-ended both visually and textually, some themes explored include the inside universe, the nature of belief, beauty, the human body and lust. As of 2009 the book also became available to view online.
The Steep Ascent
(2010). Online book.The Steep Ascent, so named after an ayah
Ayah
Ayah or Aayah is the Arabic word for sign or proof:"These are the Ayat of Allah, which We recite to you with truth...
from the Holy Quran, was an online project of Man in Gutter (aka Yusuf Misdaq) written during Ramadan 2010. The ambitious concept was to write an entire book during the month itself, which Misdaq completed, one chapter and one day at a time until day 29 where the story ended. Concordant with the title, the writing - which is a blend of both morality and extreme-satire - plays on several 'bad-guy' stereotypes, and draws heavily from the Quran and traditional forms of oral-culture, Sufi storytelling. Mo, a young rising star in an unnamed corporate world, befriends Asad, a hot dog vendor. At present the novel has been taken offline and listed as 'private' amidst rumors that it has been picked up for publication.
Into Solidity
(2011). Nefisa UKA book of poems and illustrations, Into Solidity contains a foreword from the prominent Rumi explicator and poet Raficq Abdulla
Raficq Abdulla
Raficq Abdulla is a writer, poet, public speaker, and broadcaster on a number of topics. He has been trustee of the Poetry Society and Planet Poetry and is a trustee of English PEN. He is also currently an Associate Non-Executive Director of South West London and St. George's Mental Health NHS Trust...
, Into Solidity appears to be part of a poetry series, likely the same one mentioned in the Reiger interview below (see collaborations). Misdaq is credited as author and illustrator and the cover features a striking painting. In the author's unusual preface there is an admission that the project was originally intended to be created with a hardback cover of ice, with translucent pages made of glass. It signals some of Misdaq's darkest work to date.
Collaborations
According to a 2010 interview with the artist Christopher Reiger, Misdaq is also releasing a book of poetry and prose, for which Reiger wrote the foreword.In November 2006 he performed at a "poetry sama" organized by Q-News at London's prestigious RADA
Rada
Rada is the term for "council" or "assembly"borrowed by Polish from the Low Franconian "Rad" and later passed into the Czech, Ukrainian, and Belarusian languages....
alongside Islamic scholar Abdul Hakim Murad
Abdul Hakim Murad
Abdul Hakim Murad may refer to:*Timothy Winter, British Muslim scholar, aka Abdal Hakim Murad*Abdul Hakim Murad , convicted in connection with the Bojinka plot...
& poet Daniel Abdul-Hayy Moore.
Misdaq has expressed an admiration for Suzi Gablik, Robert Fisk
Robert Fisk
Robert Fisk is an English writer and journalist from Maidstone, Kent. As Middle East correspondent of The Independent, he has primarily been based in Beirut for more than 30 years. He has published a number of books and has reported on the United States's war in Afghanistan and the same country's...
and Amy Goodman
Amy Goodman
Amy Goodman is an American progressive broadcast journalist, syndicated columnist, investigative reporter and author. Goodman is the host of Democracy Now!, an independent global news program broadcast daily on radio, television and the internet.-Early life:Goodman was born in Bay Shore, New York...
amongst others on his arts website, nefisa. He also conducted a lengthy interview with illbient
Illbient
Illbient is a term allegedly coined by DJ Olive to describe the iconoclastic music being produced by a community of artists based in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York in 1994...
dub musician and pioneering CEO of the Wordsound record label Skiz Fernando
Spectre (musician)
Spectre is Skiz Fernando, head of the Wordsound label, in his record producer, rapper and electronica artist persona.-Career:He is known for dark, brooding compositions inspired by illbient, trip hop, industrial music, and horror films, and has been described as "the Nosferatu of underground...
in 2003, shortly after the Iraq invasion. This was also a special feature on Nefisa.
Misdaq has named experimental writer Lawrence Ytzhak Braithwaite
Lawrence Ytzhak Braithwaite
Lawrence Christopher Patrick Braithwaite was a novelist, spoken word artist, dub poet, essayist, digital drummer and short fiction writer....
and poet Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore as personal friends in the literary-world. Moore has quoted comments by Misdaq on the back of two of his most recent books 'Abdallah Jones & the Disappearing-Dust Caper' and 'Underwater Galaxies'. Misdaq has also written literary reviews for Moore's numerous works, appearing in such magazines as Illume, EMEL
Emel magazine
Emel is a British lifestyle magazine that celebrates contemporary British Muslim culture. The magazine's name comes from the letters "M" and "L", which stand for "Muslim Life", and also resembles the Arabic word for "hope". Sarah Joseph, a Muslim convert, is the founder and current editor...
& online with DeenPort.
Throughout 2009 and 2010, Misdaq collaborated with poet and author Raficq Abdulla
Raficq Abdulla
Raficq Abdulla is a writer, poet, public speaker, and broadcaster on a number of topics. He has been trustee of the Poetry Society and Planet Poetry and is a trustee of English PEN. He is also currently an Associate Non-Executive Director of South West London and St. George's Mental Health NHS Trust...
MBE, on two extended poetry renga
Renga
' is a genre of Japanese collaborative poetry. A renga consists of at least two or stanzas, usually many more. The opening stanza of the renga, called the , became the basis for the modern haiku form of poetry....
's, the last of which was performed in Kensington, London (in the studio of artists Francesco Cincotta and Ariane Braillard). The piece, which went back and forth several times, dealt with topics as varied as the invasion of Gaza, the rivalry between Tennis Champions Roger Federer
Roger Federer
Roger Federer is a Swiss professional tennis player who held the ATP no. 1 position for a record 237 consecutive weeks, and 285 weeks overall. As of 28 November 2011, he is ranked World No. 3 by the Association of Tennis Professionals . Federer has won a men's record 16 Grand Slam singles titles...
and Raphael Nadal, and the origin of words. While commenting on the 'beauty' of the performance, Misdaq also revealed on his myspace blog that the most telling moment of the evening came before the audience arrived for the performance, when he helped unblock a toilet.
Teaching
- Clouds & Oceans: Islam & Creativity currently teaching at New York University Islamic Center, Spring Term, 2011
- Creative Writing class taught at the University of Brighton, UK.
Lyrics / Quotes On Art
“The English, of course, celebrate pessimism, and I used to welcome that as a part of being not only English, but an artist too. It’s a very easy feat to accomplish when you remain in the intellectual realm. The ironic thing is that so many poets get away with staying in that safe intellectual realm. No-one is calling them out because poetry has become so stale that no-one expects anything more of it. The primality that I express here is a reclamation of the possibilities of poetry. Possibilities of sounds that emanate from our bodies as well as the more easy thoughts from minds.” - Interview on new poetry series
"Be the action, don't take diction. Be the architect, don't be the actor. Don't react, be the first, cause friction. Move with instinct: the decisive factor" - Song, Continuing Journeys of a Muslim MC
"This world is very strange. It's becoming very wide, and it's very small. I want a different reality, that's why I make this music. Whatever this world offers, and in many ways, it's pretty good; the world's turning into a more artistic place, into a more [femenine] place, a place where ethnicity is not only accepted but coming to be celebrated- which is a bit scary - but where it's not denigrated to be ethnic, which was the climate when I was growing up... But for an artist, no matter you're thrown up with, in a way you have to be dissatisfied... You can't be taken in by what people say about the times you live in. You've got to look at it with a slightly journalistic eye, a completely open heart, and almost skeptical in a way; you have to look back and say 'yeah, maybe, but what about THIS? What about THIS?" And then you've got to make a track that is 'THIS', you've got to make a track that is 'THAT'."
"What is the point in being an artist if you're out there trying to say something? At this time in my life, this is how I feel about art. What are you doing, if you set out to make something? How can you call yourself a documentary filmmaker?"
"Is hip-hop itself a genre? If it is then I want to transcend hip-hop too, and in that case- I'm not a hip-hop artist, I'm more. But if, as I think, hip-hop is something bigger than genres, then I'm comfortable with it, and calling myself a hip-hop artist is fine in that case. It's all about people's different perceptions. But I listen to all music, so I am all music, you know? Man, it's a dirty game… labelling… isn't it? I like to push things though, that's all. I don't like to box things, I like to make things free, and that includes hip-hop, and people’s preconceptions of hip-hop. Mangling and changing things is important sometimes."
"I had a dream last night about a piece of art, and I promised to myself that I would make a start" - Dream (from LP, Flowers & Trees)
"We always pickin' up the same old menus / so when I speak, I try to speak like PinguPinguPingu is a British-Swiss stop-motion claymated television series created by Otmar Gutmann. The series was produced by The Pygos Group and Trickfilmstudio for Swiss television. The show is about a family of anthropomorphic penguins at the South Pole. The main character is the family's son and title...
" - Toki / The Untangling (from LP, Maghreb, Isha & Space)
"Justice is a sandwich prepared by the selfish / Rich, rusted, fiscal economist" - Nightmare on Terror (from LP, From a Western Box)
"We flip the script / You anchorman, still playing this / Islamic fundamentalist bull---- / You ain't got a clue, so I let you know this: / We Cry - We Love - We Kiss / We Hurt - We Breathe and Miss / Don't think we don't feel the injustice / We black in 1950." - Misty (from LP, From a Western Box)
LP's
- "From a Western Box" (2004)
- "Flowers & Trees" (2005)
- "The Hearing" (compilation LP for charity Muslimyouth.net )(2005)
- "Hippocamp Ruins Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band" (mash-up LP with Michl Britsch & Fredo ViolaFredo ViolaFredo Viola is an American singer/songwriter and multi-media artist. He was born in London, England, but has resided in the United States for most of his life. He currently lives in Woodstock, N.Y. He graduated from Tisch School of the Arts at NYU, but has always been most passionate about music...
et. al) (2006) - "Le Dual Mule: Experiments in Improvisational Sound" (duet LP with Mikrosopht) (2006)
- "Maghreb Isha & Space" (2010)
Novels
- The Steep Ascent, a novel (2013, UpSet Press, New York)
- Narayan, a novel (2012, unpublished)
- Pieces of a paki, a novel (2007, Nefisa UK / University of Sussex Press)
Poetry
- Lefke Automatic / Destiny of Love, poetry prose & songs (2011, Nefisa UK)
- The Beautiful / Palace Prayers, poetry, prose & songs (2011, Nefisa UK)
- Spilling Kingdoms, poetry & prose (2011, Nefisa UK)
- The Butterfly Gate, poetry & prose (2011, Nefisa UK)
- Into Solidity, poetry & prose (2011, Nefisa UK)
- Brighton Streets, poetry & prose (2010, Nefisa UK)
- Frozen Fountain, an art book (2008, Nizard / Misdaq)