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| Africa Horn |
| Muslim group criticizes tribute to Freddy Mercury |
| 2006-09-06 |
| A Muslim leader has criticized plans to honor late Queen frontman Freddie Mercury with a huge beach party this weekend. 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. Khalid said anything linking Mercury with Zanzibar's Muslim population would be offensive and that a waterfront restaurant's plans for a party Saturday honoring Mercury's birthday must be stopped. Simai Mohammed, manager of the Mercury restaurant, which was named for the singer, said the party would go on as scheduled. Mercury would have been 60 on Sept. 5. Mercury, who acknowledged being gay, was born in Zanzibar when the country was still a British protectorate. He was educated in India and moved with his family to Britain in the early 1960s, after a bloody revolution that drove out many immigrants of Indian or Arab descent. "Our main idea is to promote tourism and Freddie Mercury was from Zanzibar. It's part of our history," Mohammed said. "We are all Muslims and it's not our intention to offend any religion." Last year some 500,000 tourists traveled to Zanzibar, bringing vital foreign currency to the Indian Ocean island. This semiautonomous part of Tanzania is mostly Muslim. Zanzibar's government sent a letter asking state-owned media not to report on Mercury's birthday because of the tension between the religious group and the restaurant. Mercury gained fame as the bravura singer for Queen, whose elaborate and occasionally bombastic songs made the group one of the favorites of the 1970s. Queen's hits included "Bohemian Rhapsody," "We Are the Champions" and "Crazy Little Thing Called Love." |
| Posted by:john |
| #7 (not our Fred, right?) [shamelessly chasing this year's "Master of the Obvious" award] Yup, yup, yup, righto! |
| Posted by: Zenster 2006-09-06 23:54 |
| #6 Barbara, your tolerance is ever-so commendable. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2006-09-06 23:51 |
| #5 Dunno who this Freddy is (not our Fred, right?), or what he's queen of, but if he's got these clowns' panties in a bunch he must be doing something right. :-D |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2006-09-06 23:03 |
| #4 His were the only "Western" rock albums/CDs allowed in Iran for a time (because of his Persian heritage) and maybe still are. |
| Posted by: Mullah Richard 2006-09-06 16:33 |
| #3 I don't know if its true, but once at a party attended by Pete Townsend, Rod Stewart and Freddie Mercury, Elton John proposed those 3 form a band and call themselves Hair, Nose & Teeth. Even if its not true its still funny. |
| Posted by: JerseyMike 2006-09-06 08:36 |
| #2 From Wikipedia Mercury was born Farrokh Bulsara on the African island of Zanzibar (at the time a British colony, now part of Tanzania). [2] His parents, Bomi and Jer Bulsara, were Indian Parsis,[1] Zoroastrians of Persian descent. The family had emigrated to Zanzibar in order for Bomi to continue his job as a middle-ranking cashier at the British Colonial Office. Mercury had one younger sister, Kashmira.[2] Mercury was sent back to India to attend St. Peter's boarding school near Bombay (now Mumbai). It was at St. Peter's where he learned to play the piano and joined his first band. He stayed in India for most of his childhood, living with his grandmother and aunt. Mercury completed his education in India at St. Mary's High School in Mazagon before returning to Zanzibar. He was 17 when he and his family finally fled to England, as a result of the 1964 Zanzibar Revolution. |
| Posted by: john 2006-09-06 05:52 |
| #1 He was a Zoroastrian, IIRC. |
| Posted by: Grunter 2006-09-06 00:45 |