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More Hassidic Metal


Schneersohnrock


More Hassidic Metal - for real this time. It's possible that Schneerson could be an elaborate joke but it has a bizarre edge of authenticity to it. Here's their bio:

The band Schneersohn was founded by four yeshiva students in Crown Heights, NY. Taking their name from the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneersohn (ZT"L), the band is bringing the message of the Rebbe to the world through the most powerful form of music in existance -- Black Metal. It has not been an easy birth for this band -- there are virtually no avenues to promote this genre of music, and the band cannot play shows in their hometown for fear of being recognized. Even still, Schneersohn has built a solid following amongst Jewish youth through word of mouth alone. A possible East Coast tour is in the works for the summer of 2005. Schneersohn is currently recording their debut 6-song E.P., which will be available through mail order. The track listing is as follows: 1. The Rebbe's Grave 2. Golem 3. Six Day War 4. Martyrs of Auschwitz 5. Creeping Death (Metallica cover)

Actually, from the sample track on the myspace site they aren't too bad - scuzzy, Darkthrone-style BM with a gratifying edge of obscurity.

They aren't the first though: David Lazzar is a serious Lubavitch Metaller and Pesach Haim's album 'I am a Baal Teshuvah' is another bizarre slice of born-again Metalism. I'm sure there are others I don't know of. Of course, as I've argued before, there is fairly comfortable fit between Metal and fundamentalism of any kind.

How come I hadn't heard of this before?

Just discovered the very naughty Jewdas site: a cocktail of incendiary satire of British Jewry and polemical 'radical Torah'. Invigorating and angry it would surely ruffle feathers were it better known. I particularly liked the 'Make Melanie [Phillips] Smile' feature.

They're putting on, in conjunction with Heeb, a fascinating looking event on 9 March (sadly I can't go):

From the 1890s until the First World War a group of renegade Jews were active in the heart of the Yiddish East End. The Jewish anarchists opposed hierarchy, imperialism and the state, and also defined themselves against the Jewish establishment, holding Yom Kippur balls, featuring pork, music and dancing. They even had their own newspaper the Arbeter Fraint, until the Jewish establishment closed it down. This radical tradition has remained dormant for almost one hundred years, as Anglo-Jewry has become increasingly suburban, conservative and dull. Until now.

 

What: jewdas and New York’s Heeb Magazine present Punkpurim
  Date: Saturday, March 18
 
Time: 9pm
  Place: rampART, 15-17 Rampart Street , Whitechapel , E1 2LA
  Cover: FREE
  dresscode(optional): hassidic  
 
Extras: DJs, bands, art, projections, food, drinking… you know

 

Radical Jewish culture returns to the East End as The New Rabbis of Liberty head down to rampART, a squatted social centre in the heart of Whitechapel. Bringing on the spirit of Yiddish subversion with klezmer hip hop/drum n bass bands Ghettoplotz and Emunah; Radical Torah will be taught by a motley crew of Jewish renegades; films and art showcasing the best of revolutionary Diaspora culture; and djs spinning the speeches of Ariel Sharon.

 

Punkpurim is Jewish hipsterism meets Israeli hardcore metal meets UK anarchist collectives meets anti-nomian Chassidism. It reclaims the carnival heart of the Jewish festival of Purim. Think of it as the meeting of Walter Benjamin, Noam Chomsky and Barbara Streisand in a Brick Lane Bagel Bar. Think of it as the revenge of subversive diasporists everywhere.

 

Punkpurim is brought to you by:

 

jewdas.org the focus point of radical Judaism in the UK and beyond.  Promoting hemisiche culture on acid, jewdas whips up Talmud, satire, heresy and cream cheese into a chicken soup of underground Diaspora culture. Jewdas fully supports the Anglo Jewish establishment and would never criticise the state of Israel .

 

Heeb is a New York based Jewish Culture Magazine. It is the roiling product of so many drunken postmillennial nights on the mean streets of the Lower East Side . It is an ambitious antitrust investigation into the monopoly on God. It is a sweaty prizefight between hip hop and sushi in this corner and klezmer and kugel in the other. It is the bastard love child of Emma Goldman and Lenny Bruce. It is a plague on modern-day pharaohs replete with miraculous jailbreaks and a nice little riot or two. It is a Carnival cruise to the Garden of Eden with all-you-can-eat cheesecake and Parliament as the house band. Hallelujah.

 

For more info, contact us at info@heebmagazine.com

 

Link: new to jewdas.

You couldn't make it up part 335658

Swedish Metal Gods Hammerfall recorded a special video of their song 'Hearts On Fire'  with the Swedish women's Olympic curling team. It's available to watch on their site. Actually quite fun.

Link: HammerFall - the official website.

Israeli Anti-Semitic Cartoons Contest

This has been spreading like wildfire on Jewish blogging sites:

A Danish paper publishes a cartoon that mocks Muslims.
An Iranian paper responds with a   Holocaust cartoons contest -
- Now a group of Israelis announce   their own anti-Semitic cartoons contest!

Amitai Sandy (29),   graphic artist and publisher of Dimona   Comix Publishing, from Tel-Aviv, Israel, has followed the unfolding of the “Muhammad cartoon-gate” events in amazement, until finally he came up with the right answer to all this insanity - and so he announced today the launch of a new anti-Semitic cartoons contest - this time drawn by Jews themselves!

“We’ll show the world we can do the best, sharpest, most offensive Jew hating cartoons ever published!” said Sandy “No Iranian will beat us on our home turf!”

The contest has been   announced today on the www.boomka.org website, and the initiator accept submissions of cartoons, caricatures and short comic strips from people all over the world. The deadline is Sunday March 5, and the best works will be displayed in an Exhibition in Tel-Aviv, Israel.

Sandy is now in the process of arranging sponsorships of large organizations, and promises lucrative prizes for the winners, including of course the famous Matzo-bread baked with the blood of Christian children.

Makes me proud to be Jewish. Although it has to be said that one has to be in a comfortable social position to be able to conduct satire like this.

Link: Israely Anti-Semitic Cartoons Contest.

Freemuse reports:

The Norwegian black metal band Mayhem was scheduled to give a performance in Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur on 4 February 2006, as part of their international concert tour through Asia, but following objections from members of Dewen Rakyat, the country's parliament, the concert has been banned. Officials viewed their slogan "Bringing hell to your doorstep" as an endorsement of "satanic worship and drug use".

Given that Mayhem do endorse satanic worship and drug use, at least this is censorship of an accurate kind..

Lamentations of the Flame Princess

Thanks to Andy Rantzen for turning me onto the intriguing zine Lamentations of the Flame Princess though when I'll have time to read it properly I haven't got a clue.

Another belated discovery

The promising Jews Rock site has a sweet personal essay on Metal and Judaism by Steve Almond entitled Heavy Shtetl 

Hasidic Metal Legion

Bizarre, bizarre, bizarre.
I just discovered that Spinoza Ray Prozak's anus.com site has a wierd Hassidic Metal Reviews page. It's an indigestible mix of anti-Jewish satire, ambiguously pro-Jewish humour and very unfunny humour.
Strangest thing? Prozak sprinkled the page with Hebrew words copied from the order of service for the Passover Seder.

Link: Hasidic Metal Legion.

Heavy metal umlaut - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wikipedia's famous entry on the Heavy Metal Umlaut is a glorious piece of obsessional cultural ephemera. Now, some techy guy has produced a fascinating 'movie' that tracks how the entry has developed over the years - a celebration of the glories of the web.

Semi - funny Metal

 InsidiöusTörment are a reasonably amusing Metal parody band from Denmark.
Not as amusing as Death Kristjan or even Nanowar , but they do have a good Metal song title generator.