Jewish Hindu Sings Songs About Islam For Kids — To Protest Trump
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By Sam Kestenbaum March 9, 2017
A Jewish-raised Hindu named Ben Lee is protesting Donald Trump’s travel ban — with a new album of songs for children.
It’s titled, plainly, “Ben Lee Sings Songs About Islam for the Whole Family.”
Lee, an Australian musician living in Los Angeles, told the Guardian that he is wanted to spread information about Islam at a time of national hostility towards Muslims.
“All of this stuff started to happen with the travel ban, and I thought, you know what – now’s the moment. And if you let these moments go past and you don’t stand up, then they slip away. This album is not a hardcore piece of activism. I’m standing up for ambiguity and poetry,” Lee told the Guardian.
All proceeds will go to the American Civil Liberties Union.
Lee was raised Jewish in Sydney and moved to New York to study with a qi gong master at 18. Along the way, he also acquired a guru — who introduced him to Hinduism.
Lee has also written an album about ayahuasca, the trendy hallucinogenic drug used in shamanistic ceremonies.
Email Sam Kestenbaum at kestenbaum@forward.com
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