Internationalist Jazz
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Internationalist Black Islam significantly influenced jazz by providing Black musicians with a new identity and a sense of global solidarity. The Ahmadiyya community offered them an alternative to feeling stuck within the systemic racism framework.
Converting to Islam and joining the community had an effect on Black American music and led to the creation of new genres. First, they started to mix influences and create their musical languages by blending Arabic and bebop slang with the political and religious ideas of Black Islamic internationalists. The spiritual awakening of converted jazz musicians, coupled with the idea of a global struggle for liberation and fighting white supremacy, led to jazz being infused with strong messages of resilience and resistance. The feeling of belonging to a broader community of Black International people empowered them to reject the stigma of colored inferiority created by Jim Crow. Moreover, since the religious group had worldwide networks, it was easier for African American jazz artists to leave the country and rely on networks elsewhere. This transnational aspect has also influenced their musical creativity. For example, when he converted to Islam in 1947, Blakey traveled to West Africa, where the Ahmadiyya had branches. Back in the United States, his jazz was tainted with African rhythms influence, which contributed to the emergence of a new style of bebop, hard bop. This style further expressed Black affirmation and Black American and African liberation. They increasingly drew their inspiration from outside the US. The Jazz Messengers and Blakey had been including instruments, music, and musicians from diverse religious backgrounds from all over Africa and the African diasporic world, consequently creating hard-bop music within a larger black global context. Thus, by freeing African-American jazz musicians from their constrained identities through affiliation to a broader community, Internationalist Black Islam has allowed musicians to both express their struggle in their music and to find inspiration outside of the United States’ borders, which eventually led to the creation of new genres like hard-bop.