Columbia University Middle East Research Centre

The ARChive of Contemporary Music (ARC) has announced the launch of Muslim World Music Day, an innovative new project to catalogue and celebrate the diversity of Muslim music.

In collaboration with Columbia University Libraries and the Arts Initiative at Columbia University and with the support of founding partners Gracenote, the Internet Archive and ARC will lead a live online effort to identify and catalogue 50,000 recordings from around the world in a single day: April 12, 2011. Columbia University's Middle East Research Centre in Amman, Jordan will act as the 'hub', providing the technical expertise and hosting the interactive website. There will also be a series of live concerts around the world to celebrate the diversity, beauty and cultural importance of Muslim music.

According to Bob George of the ARChive of Contemporary Music:

'The diverse musical forms inspired by Islam are sacred and secular, traditional and contemporary, locally rooted and globally mobile. Muslim World Music Day will embrace and share a broad understanding of 'Muslim music', acknowledging the debates about the issue within Muslim communities while exploring the musical connections between Islam and other cultural traditions. From the ecstatic Sufi traditions of qawwali and gnawa to the raucous sounds of taqwacore punk and the flourishing Muslim hip-hop scene, this heritage transcends borders and bias.'

The Muslim World Music Day team is inviting organisations and individuals interested in supporting and participating in the project to contact ARC.