IslamCrunch: What is your music about?

Project26: Our music is about us. It constitutes and reflects our personalities, our views and whatever influences make up the people that we are. [www.Project26.com]

IslamCrunch: Why did you start this project?

Project26: A distinct Muslim American culture is brewing and every culture creates its own expressions. So it was only a matter of time when Muslim Americans would step up and express themselves in various ways. We’re just happy to be part of that expression.

IslamCrunch: How does your project relate to Muslims? Or is your project geared towards a general audience?

Project26: After 9/11, the general public was asking Muslims to come out and show themselves for what they truly are. That request was hard to understand because we didn’t realize we were that isolated from the mainstream community. But, to give the larger community the proper understanding of Muslims and put a human face on the Muslims, all we have to do is go out there and show ourselves—tell people about our way of life. Entertainment has always been a good way of exposing one’s self, so it is our duty to go out there and tell people about us so we can bridge communities. At the same time, the Muslim community itself can use some light hearted and sober amusement.

IslamCrunch: If your project is related to Muslims, how do you hope your project will impact the Muslim community?

Project26: It’s going to be challenging because the Muslim community is largely polarized. There’s a segment of the community that strictly concerns themselves with rules and regulations. This practice isolates them from the society at large. The other segment of the Muslim community is almost just limited to Friday prayers, if that. By this practice, they get lost within the society at large and end up losing their identity as Muslims. Moderation is needed, because this kind of fragmentation can only divide the community while one of the higher objectives of Islam is to bring people together.

IslamCrunch: How much time do you devote to its growth?

Project26: We lead very busy lives but we’ve always been on a steady growth. Even if we’re growing slowly, we try not to be stagnant. There has to be always something going on with our band. If we’re not working towards a show, then we’ll work towards a CD, once the CD is done then we’ll do promotions for the CD. If not that, we’ll try to work on some videos for YouTube or Google.

IslamCrunch: Who is in your band and what are your backgrounds?

Project26: There are 3 core members of our band. Myself (Ali Qazi), Omair Qazi, and Mudassir Ahmed. We’ve had several other people come and go. Mudassir Ahmed is our lead vocalist, Omair and I play guitars.

IslamCrunch: What is your design/service philosophy?

Project26: I guess the philosophy is to assert our way of life in the bigger public sphere. When it comes to entertainment, there are many things out there that threaten our values. Muslims for too long have been ducking behind the covers to safeguard themselves. But it doesn’t make sense because we have what it takes to go out there and promote virtue.

IslamCrunch: What technologies are you currently using?

Project26: When we compose songs, we use a lot of software at home to track different sounds. Once we come up with a skeleton for a particular song, then we bring the band together and jam it out and modify it to give it a raw sound.

IslamCrunch: What are the most requested features from your users/community?

Project26: We’re still building a fan base.

IslamCrunch: Where do you see the project heading in the next 6 months? The next 2 years?

Project26: I think we’re going lay low for the next 6 months. I’m training a new bass player right now and in the meantime we’ll take advantage of YouTube and try to get our CD in the hands of as many people as we can.

IslamCrunch: What is the greatest challenge to your success?

Project26: I would say time, but on second thought, time is really not that big of a problem. Although we do have busy lives and it’s difficult for guys to come for practices, but from what I’ve noticed, whenever there’s enough motivation to do something, people always find time to do it. But for a band like ours, which is in the initial phase of development, there’s a lot of hard work involved that doesn’t give much foresight, so people are always less motivated. That’s why in the initial stages, you really need to roll up your sleeves and get down and dirty without being too worried about the reward. That requires perseverance. So, I think its really perseverance and duress that are the challenges. But it’s always the people who persevere that come on top.

IslamCrunch: What is the one thing you need to get to the next phase of the project?

Project26: Motivation.

IslamCrunch: Do you have a business model? If so, what is it?

Project26: Well for the Muslim community entertainment, I think our Islamic organizations have too much influence on the art. It’s never a good thing for organizations or establishments to dictate art. That’s why I prefer working more on a grassroots level. Even though we may not get much of an audience, but the ones we do get, are quality audiences.

IslamCrunch: Are there any aspects of this project that has made you proud?

Project26: We have a CD that has a total of 5 tracks. This is our first CD and it’s our first attempt at making music, and I think we have done a very impressive job. So I’m really proud of that.

IslamCrunch: How would you describe the shift that’s occurring with music right now to future generations? How about Islamic music or music with Islamic themes?

Project26: I’ve been detached from the commercial music industry so I can’t really comment on its trends. And for Muslims, I think Muslims really should expand their horizons and not-limit Islam to just dogma. For example, once I was singing an Urdu [song] that was about peace and friendship, the words were “yaaron yehi dosti hai, kismet so jo mili hai”. It’s a very popular Urdu song composed by a Pakistani band, Junoon. Somebody said to me, “how’s this song Islamic?” Well peace is Islamic as well as friendship and unity. We need to have a universal understanding of our religion. Once we do that, we’ll realize that we can make songs that have an Islamic meaning without having lyrics related to dogma.

IslamCrunch: What site(s) do you visit everyday other than your own?

Project26: Zaytuna.org, Islamicaweb.com, ManiacMuslim.com

IslamCrunch: What do you hope IslamCrunch can help you to accomplish?

Project26: Insha’Allah, IslamCrunch can help get our music to the ears of the people.

IslamCrunch: If you could collaborate with another organization or participate on another project, please list them here.

Project26: At the bigger level, we’d like to work with multi-faith/cultural organizations and do some bridge building. Also, anti-war efforts are needed. For the Muslim community, I think there should be a synergy between youth related efforts. Music and entertainment, clothing companies, youth magazines and sports leagues etc., can do a lot to help each other out, and if we put our brains together I’m sure we can come up with some creative ways of doing that.

Read the IslamCrunch article about Project26 here.

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