Bringing Up Britney

Britney Spears Waxes Philospohical
Here is a link to a story on Britney Spears, the newest follower and user of Bhangra, in Newsweek Magazine. Its an interesting read, because I think it shows the insular nature that many of these teen pop stars have as they get older, especially when they tour all the time, and lack formal higher education.

The last bit of the article has the interviewer asking Britney about the South Asian influences on "In the Zone," which includes Spears' single Me Against the Music (a version of which is produced by Rishi Rich). Britney indicates that, "she’s been into a lot of Indian spiritual religions.” When asked if one of them is Hinduism, she says, “What’s that? Is it like kabbalah?” Yeah, sure you have "been into a lot of Indian spritual religions." Note to Britney: Enter foot in mouth.


Kabbalah, for those that don't know, is not a separate religion, but is a form of Jewish Mysticism, and has gained a resurgence in popularity because of Madonna.

The Web dictionary describes Kabbalah or Cabala as referring to the mystical interpretation of the Jewish Scriptures. It has two principal written sources. Sefer Yezira is a third century work which purports to present a series of monologues given by the partriarch Abraham. The second, Zohar is a mystical commentary on the Torah written by Moses de León in the 13th century.

As a religious movement, it appears to have started in 11th century France, and then spread to Spain and elsewhere. It influenced the development of Hasidism in the 18th century, and continues to play a role in contemporary Judaism.

posted by sajit @ 3:46 PM