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LittleBigControversy: Qur'an lyrics debated on BBC
This week's BBC News at Ten featured a discussion on the LittleBigControversy, in which the game was delayed at the eleventh hour due to a song, featuring lyrics taken from the Qur'an, by Grammy award-winning artist Toumani Diabaté. According to GamesIndustry.biz, the program had Diabaté on to discuss, as well as Sheikh Ibrahim Mogra of the Muslim Council of Britain. "It's quite normal to play music and be inspired by the words of the Prophet Mohammed," said Diabaté, himself a Muslim. "It's my way to attract and inspire people towards Islam." Mogra provided the counterpoint, saying that "Muslims believe the Qur'an to be the actual word of god and give it utmost respect" and its use in a commercial title would "upset and cause offence and hurt to many, many Muslims."LittleBigPlanet is expected to arrive next week for North America and "no later than the week of November 3" for Europe.
Toumani Diabate defends his Qur'an lyrics on BBC news
Toumani Diabate, the musician behind Tapha Niang (the LittleBigPlanet track that ultimately caused the delay), has defended his track on BBC's News At Ten. "It's quite normal to play music and be inspired by the words of the Prophet Mohammed," said Diabate. "It's my way to attract and inspire people towards Islam." It seems to be a polarizing issue for Muslims, however, as Shaykh Ibrahim Mogra of the Muslim Council of Britain responded, stating that "Muslims believe the Qur'an to be the actual word of god and give it utmost respect.""Therefore if it were to be used with the accompaniment of music or if it were to be used in a game or a commercial - that would upset and cause offence and hurt to many, many Muslims." So who's right? Probably no-one, it's all very subjective. Still, better to suffer a couple of weeks extra wait than risk offending anyone. The game will be out the "week of October 27th" in the US, with a UK release on the 5th of November (other European territories "no later than the week of the 3rd"). Though we hear that Walmarts are actually selling the game right now, if you fancy giving them a try.
Inside the LBP delay: A Grammy award-winning artist's 2006 song
As SCEE vaguely put it, "one of the background music tracks licensed from a record label for use in the game" is the cause of LittleBigPlanet's -- now worldwide -- delay. So which track is it? Well, the song is "Tapha Niang" from the 2006 album Boulevard de l'Independance by Grammy award-winning Malian kora player Toumani Diabaté (and it's available on iTunes, both Zune and Amazon marketplaces, and we imagine just about any place popular world music is sold). You can even listen to the track in its entirety on Toumani's MySpace page.From the brief research we've done (um ... Wikipedia), we have yet to find evidence to suggest "Tapha Niang" (or any Toumani Diabaté production for that matter) has been criticized for possible religious offenses prior to today's development. In fact, a profile published by Taipei Times describes Toumani Diabaté as "a devout Muslim, with his own prayer room next to his office."While the backstory seems to indicate "Tapha Niang" was a tasteful, if not highly regarded selection for LBP's soundtrack, the reality is Sony is beginning a process to remove the song's inclusion from the game. With Church of England's beef still fresh in memory, Sony's no doubt playing this one safe as can be. Sorry SackBoy, but you've been benched.[Thanks to cc123 for providing the starting block for our research!]
