Latinos are the fastest growing ethnic group in America.

Islam is the fastest growing religion in the US. What do you get when you combine Latinos and Islam? New York City in particular has a strong Latino and Hispanic influence. Said differently, they’re everywhere! I recently came across an interview with photographer, Eirini Vourloumis. James Estrin of the New York Times visual arts journal called, LENS discussed Latinos, Culture and Islam with the renowned photojournalist.

The Blog-Health-o-Meter reads Wow.

Crunchy numbers

Madison Square Garden can seat 20,000 people for a concert. This blog was viewed about 69,000 times in 2010. If it were a concert at Madison Square Garden, it would have performed about 3 times.

In 2010, there were 23 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 455 posts. There were 34 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 11mb. That’s about 3 pictures per month.

The busiest day of the year was September 28th with 342 views. The most popular post that day was MSNBC: Keith Olberman Nominates Bob McCarthy, ‘The Worst Person In the World’.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were search.conduit.com, facebook.com, google.com, yursil.com, and telegraph.co.uk.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for muhammad, muslim greetings, turkish lentil soup, islamic greetings, and islamic greeting.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

MSNBC: Keith Olberman Nominates Bob McCarthy, ‘The Worst Person In the World’ September 2010
1 comment

Proper Greetings in Islam September 2007
39 comments

Turkish Red Lentil Soup (Mercimek Çorbasi) March 2008
24 comments

The Holy Prophet’s Sense of Humor January 2008
25 comments

Heba Kotb: On Sex and Muslims January 2007
35 comments

Photograph by Roland Tanglao

“Self-reinvention is merely self-deception.”

There are myths in different groups of people. Stories we refer to which shape ideas and life choices. I was born to a family of musicians. In my home, though very religious, there was a great appreciation for the arts and music in general. Among artists and musicians there was a special interest in pioneering musicians, like Miles Davis. So nearly all my life I’ve heard epic tales about the brilliance of Miles Davis’ ability to reinvent himself. Among jazz connoisseurs this is a common epithet. Perhaps, self-reinvention is a quality respected in the world-wide community of artists.

As a result, I’ve always admired the ability to reinvent myself. It felt very artistic to me, however over the years I’ve found the idea of self-reinvention to be utter bullshit. It’s impossible to reinvent anything real. Because something real can only be what it is. Trying to call yourself something else, talk differently, act differently with the intention of self reinvention is merely as self-deception, a trick.

In the time I’ve spent learning under a Sufi Master I’ve come to some  pretty ugly attributes that exist within myself. Immediately, I try to hide or discard these things, quickly. This usually happens during a drastic and desperate attempt to achieve or acquire something. An acquisition based on some careless idea, which seemed good at the time. But what I’ve learned is that facing real life is difficult, but its the only way to be connected to real life. Once we start launching ourselves into the outer realms of our imaginations, we begin a dangerous game that resembles an object floating weightlessly with no means of propulsion.

We need an Anchor. It keeps us grounded. We need to be grounded in order to really get somewhere. Self reinvention is a myth because it gives us immediate gratification and the illusion that we’ve arrived.

Lauren Booth (Sister In-Law to Tony Blair)

There has been a media-fire on the interwebs concerning a recent religious conversion. Ordinarily, converting to a different religion is pretty normal stuff that we’ll find from time-to-time between our long-term relationships. It’s the kind of thing we see over the years with a few good friends and scattered family members. It’s normal.

However, when that religious conversion is by a public personality, now it becomes something perhaps a little more meaningful. Well no, now that isn’t right at all. That being said, a someone’s belief this way or that way identifies a number of key elements about a person. Such as a their core values.

Andrew Brown, staff writer for the Guardian has some ideas about religious conversion and its implications saying,

“We tend to think of conversion as an essentially solitary or individual choice: the classic picture is the kind of “conversion experience”described in William James, and central both to evangelical Christianity and Alcoholics Anonymous. But it is also always a political and social act, a statement about where you fit into the world. To convert is to announce your allegiance to a new tribe, or a new idea of humanity.”

I mostly agree here, but thereafter we part ways when Brown adds,

“It is also, by implication at least, a rejection of your old self, and of the people who thought they recognised you in it. In this it is more like a divorce or a remarriage than any kind of intellectual experience. This is why it is a little silly to mock Lauren Booth for saying she has got up to page 60 of the Qur’an, after reading it every day. The conviction precedes the reading, and drives it along. Besides, how fast are you supposed to read a holy book? It’s not as if you’re trying to discover who dun it, only how He did it, and that is a study which can take a very long time. I might think her more sincere if she announced she was still on page one after three months.” (A. Brown, the Guardian)

As a convert I’ve experienced the highs and lows of the religious conversion process. And I disagree with Brown that religious conversion implies, “a rejection of your old self, and of the people who thought they recognised you in it.”

Let me digress, actually rejecting my “old self” and the old people is exactly what I did initially. I worked very hard to rebuild a new life for myself. One that was free from everything, this usually meant mundane failings, that were a “burden to my soul”. Slowly family members were cut-off, friends were forgotten, life-long interests and endeavors were tossed aside.

Consequently, Brown’s description is accurate when compared with my initial reaction to my new faith. On the other-hand this kind of behavior is not the way a new Muslim, for example, should behave. Brown used Lauren Booth’s conversion – the most recent star convert to Islam – to suggest that though in theory a person’s religious conversion should express a desire to move closer to God, the actual practice boils down to person’s beliefs being merely a way of expressing their relationship with society. It’s a strong argument but a half-truth none-the-less.

On the contrary, I have experienced something very different with Shaykh Abdul Kerim. It stands worlds apart from Brown’s description. In fact, as I’ve suggested the position Brown discusses here is more closely related to my initial feelings and ideas which were my own, not what I was taught later by my spiritual guide.

When I finally consulted someone I was accepting to give me proper guidance and instruction on religion and spiritual life, I had to shift gears. Instead of isolating myself, cutting-ties and breaking bonds, as I had done on my own, I was encouraged to keep my family relationships and treat them with importance.

What I’ve learned from all of this is that there is a difference from a person following their own ideas in the name of religion and a person living with faith.

Ariel Hyatt, CyberPR

It was just about this time two years ago my father and I were working on a project as co-writers; co-producers and partners in his own album project. I was writing most of the backing tracks, especially the rhythm parts and string arrangements, while he was writing, developing and improvising the lead melodies. He and I had been talking about several strategies on how to release and promote the music once we finished the project. And I thought it might prove useful to get a fresh perspective from someone in the business, but not related to our project.

On February 9, 2009 Ariel Hyatt’s company, CyberPR (@cyberpr) started following my Twitter (@hakimcallier). I received a direct message from Ariel not long after that asking if she could sign me up for CyberPR, I accepted. Five months later Ariel direct messaged me and asked if she could add me to an email list for CyberPR. Knowing very little of her I accepted. Then around the same time that I was promoting an audio mastering competition with the members of the Futureproducers.com forum, I asked Derek Sivers (@sivers), founder and former CEO of CD Baby, Andrew Dubber (@dubber) of New Music Strategies and Bruce Warila (@brucewarila), for some advice on record promotion and also Internet promotions for online music events such as the competition I was hosting. They all mentioned Ariel at some point or another and in a very positive light. Andrew also noted that she was in the same town, New York City.

On July 28, 2009 I wrote Ariel an email, at Dubber’s recommendation, detailing the project with my father and our concerns in this quickly changing world of recorded music sales and distribution. She responded promptly, though vacationing in Colorado! We set a date and time for a conference call and I became the middle man. I was now the go-between an artist and a public relations firm. Not exactly where I wanted to be, but it’s my father and I’d already heard some pretty outstanding things about CyberPR and Ariel in general.

Our meeting was set and on an unusually cool August morning we discussed the new direction of music, promotions and record sales over a three-way conference call. I merely listened while this seasoned professional musician – my father – who has worked with everyone from Andre Crouch to El DeBarge had an open, frank and unapologetic conversation about new media, the music business and the need to think differently. A conversation my father, an old-school musician who has seen more studio time than I’ve seen days, called enlightening.

Why am I relaying this story? What is the point of it all? Well since that time I’ve known that Ariel was or will soon be one of the premier music publicists and social media strategists around. And recently I found out that she’d written a book called, Music Success In Nine Weeks. I got the book and started participating in WAVE 3 of her “Blog Challenge”. I’ll be posting content related to Ariel’s “Blog Challenge” in addition to my regular content. Below you will find a partial editorial calendar, these posts are a follow-up to the book Music Success In Nine Weeks, Ariel Hyatt’s “Blog Challenge” and the Cybermastermind Forum activity:

1. Week 1: Intros & Goals
   1. Part 1 – Introduce Yourself
   2. Part 2 – Set Some Goals
2. Week 2: Make Your Perfect Pitch
3. Week 3: Optimize Your Website
4. Week 4: Social Media
   1. Part  1 – Social Media Defined
   2. Part 2 – Social Media Must Have Facebook
   3. Part 3 – Social Media Must Have Twitter
5. Week 5: Blogging
6. Week 6: Connecting With Fans via Newsletters
7. Week 7: Build That Mailing List!
8. Week 8: Networking – Movie Time!
9. Week 9: Make More Money!

This album and my future projects are worlds apart what was done early in my career with Smarty Pants/HTK (Portland circa 1995) and the A.L.I.E.N.S. (Brooklyn circa 2000). The sounds selection are completely my own and all instrumentation and vocal performances are done by me as well. As a result all of my musical influences are brought to the table more than ever before, imagine David Bowie and El DeBarge reading Rumi.

The SEYFETTİN recording project is under full swing and I’m in the studio writing some of the most provocative work that I’ve yet been able to produce. And I hope it is worth sharing on your social network. Harlem Renaissance is the introduction to my musical expression as I grow and develop in this life, inshaAllah there will be more to come. There is an official press release scheduled for November 2010, but readers here at this blog are getting advanced access to the music with the ‘name your price’ business model, modeled after Radioheads’ 2007 release.

For More Information or Interviews Contact:

Hakim Callier

(347) 303-5129

hakim.callier@gmail.com

“Local filmmaker Jessica Vecchione — the creative force behind the award-winning documentary Bienvenidos a Fleischmanns — has produced an extraordinary short documentary on the ugly battle over a tiny Sufi cemetery that, in the past few weeks, made the little town of Sidney the focus of a maelstrom of unwelcome attention. In the movie, which you can watch in its entirety above, she records a recent town meeting that drew over 150 people, and interviews Hans Hass, spokesman for the Osmanlı Nakş-ı’bendi Hakkani Dergah, and their lawyer, Tom Schimmerling.” (L. Harris, Watershed Post)