A Muslim leader in Zanzibar wants a planned beach party honoring the late Freddie Mercury's birthday to be stopped. The Queen singer was born in Zanzibar, and later moved to India, then the UK. A party is planned at a restaurant named for Freddie, but one Muslim organization objects because Freddie was gay.
Mercury, who died of AIDS in 1991, violated Islam with his flamboyant lifestyle, said Azan Khalid of Zanzibar's Association for Islamic Mobilization and Propagation.
"That's why he was branded a Queen," Khalid said, adding that anything linking Mercury with Zanzibar's Muslim population would be offensive.
The restaurant insists the party will go on as scheduled.
Here I always get the frown when I tell people he was Persian or an Indian Parsi so on one hand I really love the fact that they protest this heavy against Freddy Mercury (a.k.a. Farukh Bulsar).
The fact alone that people sometimes refuse to believe that Freddy Mercury had an Persian/Muslim/Indian background makes the protests a bit welcome these days, since he just throws every stereotype existing about muslims in the dustbin showing that definetly not all Muslims are fundamentalistic beardy guys!!
Quite the opposite of an fundamentalist I would say but his music does have a clear Islamic stamp. Songs as "Mustapha", "The prophet" and even more so the Bismillah pieces in the notorious "Bohemian Rhapsody" carry out the eastern part of Mercury.
I think that's one of the coolest facets of Queen; creating a song with elements of the Islam and Christianty that made such an huge impact on the Western pop scene!!!
(BTW, needless to say that I'm a HUGE fan, right? LOL!)
But more emphasis on the Eastern part of Freddy Mercury should not have came out of the protest corner and sometimes it's frustrating to see that in 2006 it's still not possible to listen to the music you want and even worse seeing musicians being dismissed for being gay.
I know some Indians will love the Lata Mageskar part and I believe that somewhere on the net picture excist of Freddy Mercury wearing a ghagra (Indian skirt and blouse) for some dress up event.
It's fun to see that he already expressed himself at a very young age!
Overall I think there is no need to attack any religion that preaches being gay is a crime, I guess... and hey I believe Queen made this one song that to me is the best answer back:
"We're all God's people..."
(All God's People, Queen)
The restaurant insists the party will go on as scheduled.
In every religion you have the people that believe it's against their beliefs to even tolerate people with a different preference than their own. Regardless of what that preference is, sexual orientation or something else.
It's also generally vocalised by the people that can't think for themselves.
