We'll Play till We Die

In his iconic musical travelogue Heavy Metal Islam, Mark LeVine first brought the views and experiences of a still-young generation to the world. In Well Play till We Die, he joins with this generations leading voices to write a definitive history of the era, closing with a cowritten epilogue that explores the meanings and futures of youth music from North Africa to Southeast Asia. Well Play till We Die dives into the revolutionary music cultures of the Middle East and larger Muslim world before, during, and beyond the waves of resistance that shook the region from Morocco to Pakistan. This sequel to Mark LeVines celebrated Heavy Metal Islam shows how some of the worlds most extreme music not only helped inspire and define region-wide protests, but also exemplifies the beauty and diversity of youth cultures throughout the Muslim world. Two years after Heavy Metal Islamwas published in 2008, uprisings and revolutions spread like wildfire. The young people organizing and protesting on the streetsin dozens of cities from Casablanca to Karachiincluded the very musicians and fans LeVine spotlighted in that book. Well Play till We Die revisits the groundbreaking stories he originally explored, sharing what has happened to these musicians, their music, their politics, and their societies since then. The book covers a stunning array of developments, not just in metal and hip hop scenes, but with emo in Baghdad, mahraganat in Egypt, techno in Beirut, and more. LeVine also reveals how artists have used global platforms like YouTube and SoundCloud to achieve unprecedented circulation of their music outside corporate or government control. The first collective ethnography and biography of the post-2010 generation, Well Play till We Die explains and amplifies the radical possibilities of music as a revolutionary force for change.