The highlight of my week had to be watching a screening of The Taqwacores, a 2010 film about Muslim punk rockers, and the 45-minute performance that followed by Sunny Ali and The Kid, who describe themselves as Philadelphia’s only Pakistani Cowboy Punk band.

It was part of the Muslim Film Festival in Boston, sponsored by the American Islamic Congress. The group is also presenting the festival in Washington between April 19-27, including The Taqwacores on April 21. I’d highly recommend it.

The Taqwacores, which debuted at last year’s Sundance Film Festival, is based on the excellent 2004 novel by Michael Muhammad Knight, which helped spawn a Muslim punk scene. As I wrote in a 2006 story about a Muslim punk band in Boston, The Kominas, The Taqwacores tells the story of a group of Muslim punks “who smoked dope, read scripture, slam-danced, prayed, had sex, and embodied the tolerance and compassion that Islam encouraged but that, in Knight’s view, were being neglected in favor of rules and rigidity.”

Since the novel came out, many Muslim punk bands have formed, and I increasingly see or hear about talented musicians with Muslim names. Now, they face the challenge of avoiding being pigeon-holed as “Muslim musicians,” and letting their music speak for itself.

That’s why I didn’t ask Sunny Ali or The Kid any questions about Muslim identity or anything else. Their music was more than good enough to stand on its own. They’re also funny. One song had a chorus that sounded like “You know what you are,” but in fact, Sunny informed the audience in his deadpan manner, was called, “You know what Jawad?”