Per the request of the music director of SXSW (that’s “South by Southwest” for the acronymically-challenged - it’s one of the largest music-related events in the USA), I’m organizing a lineup of Muslim bands of all genres for next year’s SXSW, to be held in Austin in March 2009.
The audience will be mostly non-Muslim indie music fans (and possibly more than a few record label folks), so the artists we select need to have the talent and the crossover appeal to pull it off (i.e., I think we’ll have to pass on bubblegum pop like the 786 Boys). Would prefer unsigned artists to give them a shot at visibility.
Any suggestions for artists we should court? I’d like to see Kareem Salama, Liza Garza, and Tyson, for starters.
I think they want to call it “Allahpalooza”. Not sure if that will fly.

