The art of no-seduction: Muslim boy-band music in Southeast Asia and the fear of the female voice

Abstract

Religion, more often than not, equates the arts of seduction - whether in traditional performances or popular music - with immoral behaviour. The status of music and dance in the Islamic world, especially the fear of its sensuous powers, has been heatedly discussed in religious treatises; with its clean-cut performers and moral messages, nasyid, the Islamic boy-band music of Southeast Asia, seems to epitomise the art of no-seduction. Reality, however, is more complex, as Muslim pop music struggles to combine two competing powers - the eroticism of pop music and the persuasive power of religion. And especially when the female voice comes into play....