Little Big Planet delayed

On Friday, Patrick Seybold, Director of Corporate Communications and Social Media for Sony Computer Entertainment of America, confirmed that the release of the Playstation 3 game, Little Big Planet, would be delayed, pending a worldwide recall.  One of the songs that Little Big Planet developer Media Molecule licensed to play during the game contains two references from the Islamic holy book the Qur’an.  No one seems to know for sure who first brought the song in question to Sony’s attention but several sources point to an ominous post made Thursday on the official Playstation forums by an author known only by a first name (Yasser) and a Playstation Network ID (solid08):

The words are:

1- In the 18th second: “كل نفس ذائقة الموت” (”kollo nafsin tha’iqatol mawt”, literally: ‘Every soul shall have the taste of death‘).

2- Almost immediately after, in the 27th second: “كل من عليها فان” (”kollo man alaiha fan”, literally: ‘All that is on earth will perish’).

I asked many of my friends online and offline and they heard the exact same thing that I heard easily when I played that part of the track. Certain Arabic hardcore gaming forums are already discussing this, so we decided to take action by emailing you before this spreads to mainstream attention.

We Muslims consider the mixing of music and words from our Holy Quran deeply offending. We hope you would remove that track from the game immediately via an online patch, and make sure that all future shipments of the game disk do not contain it.

It took less than 24 hours for Sony to respond.  In addition to pulling all retail copies of Little Big Planet off of store shelves worldwide, a “day 0″ patch will be distributed over the Playstation Network.  When the game is eventually released, any existing copies of the game that somehow made it through the cracks will have the offending song removed via Little Big Planet’s online component.

Sadly, offense has become the name of the game.  When he says that “we Muslims consider the mixing of music and words from our Holy Quran[sic] deeply offending,” solid08 pretends to speak for the entire nation of Islam, when that is clearly not the case. 

The writer and performer of the song in question, Grammy award winning recording artist Toumani Diabaté is himself a devout muslim.  ‘Tapha Niang’, is Diabaté’s reimagining of a traditional Malian folk song about a beloved hippopotamus that is shot and killed by a white hunter.  Diabaté adapted Tapha Niang as a tribute and lamentation on the death of his brother Mustapha, who died very young when they were both children.

Diabaté’s record label, World Circuit Records, provided MTV Multiplayer blog with this explanation, on Monday:

Moussa draws on the excerpts from the Koran to console him & help him overcome his bereavement.

In this way, his intention (”Neeyah” in Islam) is a good one. He is not blaspheming or taking the Koran out of context.

He is trying to draw strength from the words of the Prophet.

“كل نفس ذائقة الموت” (”kollo nafsin tha’iqatol mawt”, literally: ‘Every soul shall have the taste of death’).
“كل من عليها فان” (”kollo man alaiha fan”, literally: ‘All that is on earth will perish’).

It is important to remember that everyone - no matter who you are or what you do – will die one day. It is the will of God.

The premise of this shit storm is that “certain Arabic [gamers]” who shall remain nameless have a problem with anyone setting the words of the Qur’an to music.  They think its blasphemy.  Unfortunately for them, the vast majority of the muslim world probably doesn’t share this opinion.  In fact, given the context of the story that Tapha Niang tells, a lot of muslims would probably appreciate having their cultural tomes included in this little parable. 

Islamic law does not explicitly forbid the inclusion of verses from the Kor’an in song.  According to Diabaté, in Mali, “it is quite normal to play music and be inspired by the words of the Prophet Mohammed.”  Many examples of this tradition can be seen on West African television.

It’s also worth pointing out that, before Little Big Planet, when these were just a few Arabic words in a song by a critically acclaimed but relatively unknown Malian artist, no one seemed to care.  Now, Tapha Niang is added to the soundtrack of what will arguably be Sony’s biggest entertainment release of the year and suddenly an unknown number of people are “deeply offended.”  Little Big Planet is expected to sell well over 10 million copies worldwide.  More importantly, Sony has positioned LBP as a “system seller,” a game strategically placed to kick start the Playstation 3 out of third place in the video game console market.  Billions of dollars are literally at stake.  That’s enough for any group with an agenda to try and exploit the situation.  That seems to be the case here. 

In all likelihood, those at Media Molecule who were originally responsible for placing Tapha Niang on the Little Big Planet soundtrack were not familiar with the translation of the song’s Malian and Arabic lyrics.  Like most Westerners who have heard the song (myself included), they probably just thought it sounded cool and that it melodically and or rhythmically fit the mood of that part of the game where it was placed.  More troubling would be a scenario where the music directors at Media Molecule placed Tapha Niang in Little Big Planet with full knowledge of its meaning, in an attempt to say something about equalizing solemnity of death and then were forced to remove the song for the sake of an alleged sensitivity.  Either way, Sony’s reaction to this whole fiasco seems overly reactionary, ham fisted and, at once, a bit totalitarian.

Even in the muslim world, the merits of the complaint against Tapha Niang and Little Big Planet are, at best, debatable.  But a lot of money is at stake and, based on it’s actions, Sony is willing to do whatever it takes to ensure the success of its new franchise.  If, in this case, there is a choice between supporting artistic license and expression and ensuring commercial success, Sony has made its priorities clear.  With Little Big Planet, this initial censorship may also be a warning of things to come. 

Little Big Planet’s most promising features center on the creation and sharing of user-generated content.  Players can use the game’s creation tools to make completely new games and then upload them to the Playstation Network for anyone to download and play.  The possibilities are limitless.  In reality, Sony’s recent actions have demonstrated that strict limits will be placed on what gamers can make and share with Little Big Planet. 

On planet earth, the societal costs of Sony’s self-censorship will probably be even higher.  By automatically caving to a perceived threat from a small group of fundamentalists, Sony is setting a precedent for the limitation of expression.  Religious zealots who would seek to control what people can do or say will likely be encouraged by this recent outcome and seek more influence and control in the future.

In an interview with Edge Online, M. Zuhdi Jasser, M.D., head of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, had this to say: 

“…To demand that [the game] be withdrawn is predicated on a society which gives theocrats who wish to control speech far more value than the central principle of freedom of expression upon which the very practice and freedom of religion is based.”

Jasser added, “The fact that the music writer is a devout Muslim should highlight that at the core of this issue is not about offending ‘all Muslims,’ but only about freedom of expression and the free market.”

Even though Sony Computer Entertainment has developed a short history of gaffes and alleged offenses to religious groups, their reaction in the Little Big Planet case may not surprise you.  If you believe in freedom of expression, it should never-the-less disturb you.