LONDON, June 28: A Muslim musician living in Britain said on Wednesday that two directors at his record label had threatened to resign if he released a new album describing suicide bombers and the West’s immorality.
The threat means Aki Nawaz, who was born in Pakistan but moved to Britain aged three, would have to distribute ‘All is War (The Benefits of G-Had)’ independently, causing delays of around two weeks.
“It won’t get released on July 17 because of the other directors. I have to move it back two weeks,” he said.
“The point is that these guys — the directors — who I admire, they’re scared about what England is turning out to be in the sense that you can’t speak. And they are scared for me.”
The two directors could not immediately be reached for comment at Nation Records, the label which Nawaz helped to set up and which had been expected to release All is War.
The album was not the first time Aki Nawaz has written politically charged songs. According to the Nation Records Web site (www.nationrecords.co.uk), the independent label which had planned to distribute All is War, Nawaz’s group Fun-Da-Mental has released records including ‘Erotic Terrorism’ (1998) and ‘Why America Will Go to Hell’ (1999).
The difference now, he said, was a climate of fear in Britain, where the events of Sept 11, 2001, and the suicide attacks in London on July 7 last year had rendered open discussion of Muslims’ place in society impossible.—Reuters
