E. G. Browne and the Band of Renown
E. G. Browne and the Band of Renown is a world funk band, formed by Bahá'í musicians in Oklahoma and Texas
with the intention of playing music influenced by Bahá'í ideals and about life in the Bahá'í Community.
We are not, and do not intend to be a band which plays devotional music; i.e music which uses the Sacred Writings of the Bahá'í Faith as lyrics,
or music intended to be played while the Writings are being read in a devotional setting.
Our music is influenced by such notable musical pioneers as James Brown, Jimi Hendrix, Tower of Power, Stevie Wonder, Sly and the Family Stone,
Stevie Ray Vaughn, The Temptations, B.B. King, Aretha Franklin, the music of Motown Records, and many, many more!
Justice Bigler - alto and tenor saxophone
Warren Waren - guitar
Daniel Kline - bass
Austin Turner - drums
Gustaff Besungu - djembe
Edward Granville Browne
Edward Granville Browne (1862-1926) was a British orientalist who taught at the University of Cambridge, in Cambridge, England in the late 1800's and early 1900's.
He wrote extensively about the language, culture, and history of the Arabic speaking world, and in particular the people of Persia. His studies brought him in contact with
the Bábí religion of Persia, which later became known as the Bahá'í Faith. And, though not a member of the Bahá'í Faith himself, E. G. Browne is significant to the Bahá'í
Faith because he was the first westerner to meet Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith, and authored many of the first scholarly works about the Bahá'í Faith.
It is in his honor that we take his name as the name of our band.