Metal Jew

A very metal Purim

So tomorrow is Purim, which for those who don't known, celebrates the survival of the Jews from an attempted massacre in Persia, with drunkenness, dressing-up, skits and general revelry. In honour of the festival, here's some Jewish and some metal silliness. First up, an Israeli animation in which the likes of Ahmedinajad and Bin Laden celebrate the festival (hat tip, as ever, Teruah):

On the metal side of things, enjoy Caninus, whose vocalist is a dog, Hatebeak, whose vocalist is a parrot (neither of them are exactly joke bands and they actually sound pretty good), and revel in the wit and wisdom of Fenriz.

Finally, if I haven't done so before, big shout going out to the splendidly sarcastic Metal Inquisition - my favourite blog at the moment.

Chag Sameach

YOU'RE NOT FUNNY

The otherwise mildly amusing Cheesy Metal site yesterday posted this drivel. I guess it's supposed to be funny and to annoy po-faced feminists (if not, then the guy is even more of a jerk).  But the moron who wrote this crap doesn't understand that just insulting someone isn't necessarily clever or funny. If you're going all out to be offensive, learn from Anal Cunt.

Hate crimes against goths and emos

Here in the UK, the trial is currently taking place of a gang of teenagers who [are accused of] savagely attacked a goth couple, leading to the woman dying and the man suffering brain damage.  The attack appears to have been motivated by nothing more than the desire to have fun attacking people who looked different. It's nothing more than racism in another form.

Then I see a report on Blabbermouth that:

According to La Crónica de Hoy, several hundred Mexican heavy metal, "skate punk" and alternative rock fans joined forces last Friday (March 7) in the in the center of Querétaro, Mexico to confront a group of "emos" (followers of the "emo" subculture, which is short for "emotional") who regularly use the city center as a gathering place. Four people were injured and 28 persons were arrested (22 of them minors) when more than a thousand youths clashed in the area of Jardín Guerrero, Plaza de Armas

Equally disturbing is that:

An Internet campaign is reportedly being waged to launch attacks against "emos" in other parts of the country, with various web postings portraying emos as "homosexuals" who give a "bad image" to tourists who visit their towns.

Now I'm with a large section of the metal world in that emo leaves me cold, but I really feel on the wrong side of the battle here. This is the side of the metal world that makes me sick. The side that, for example, made Kurt Cobain despise the metallers amongst his fans as they reminded him of the bullies and jocks in school.

Metallers didn't attack the goth couple. In fact there are sections of the metal world that, to outsiders, probably look similar to goth. Still, when anyone is attacked for being a member of a youth/music culture the metal world should be on the victim's side.

More on 'Black' Metal

Following my post on metal in Botswana, I was contacted by a woman from Kenya and we've been corresponding on rock, metal and punk in that country. Here's what she has to say (with permission):

Well kenya has more of a rock scene than a metal scene, since bands are just beginning to arise. metalheads know each other through exchange of music or online like the facebook group kenya metalheads. it's usually hard to convince a dj in a club to play a metal song. there are still many misconceptions about the music, but most consider it noise or satanic. these are the ignorant ones. as for bands there's a mixed category, but mostly indie and alternative. none that sound like the Botswana bands, or really metal. there are mainly two dominant yahoo groups that people get info on about gigs and stuff.

http://www.groups.yahoo/kenyapunk

http://www.groups.yahoo/kenyarocks

Check out the article on this site, it has a review of a recent show.
http://www.the-booth.com/index.html

The first gig i ever went to was largely a white crowd, the blacks were countable, but that was because there was no awareness among the black fans that there was a local rock scene, but now there's more black fans and band members than white, with just one band which has all white members and im afraid they're gonna phase out coz of being the minority which shouldn't be right. the problem then becomes how can we intergrate the white fans back into the scene. other wise right now it's a black rock scene, as for the metal scene, its mainly male, i've just met two females who listen to metal, and when the guys realize that, it amazes them, at which point i wonder why. hope that answers the question somehow.

So there we have it. I'm keen to hear from anyone else who has information on metal in majority 'black' countries.

Mini documentary on Middle East metal

Last week CNN aired a mini-documentary on metal in the Middle East (viewable online). It contains interviews and footage of Jordanian and Saudi Arabian bands. What comes through really strongly is how far the internet is providing a boost to these metal scenes. Fascinating stuff. [via Blabbermouth]

Against Copyright Term Extension

The following is from an e-mail from the Open Rights Group. It should be pretty self-explanatory:

Thanks for signing our Release The Music petition in 2006. You helped us win the battle against copyright term extension in the UK. Now we need your help again. The European Commission are discussing a proposal for term extension.
This is truly urgent because the UK government will be reassessing their 'no' to the term extension lobby in light of the new proposal. So if you oppose copyright term extension for sound recordings then sign our new, Europe-wide petition, now.

Please also be sure to tell your communities about the petition, whether via your blog, podcast, mailing lists or just down the pub. In particular, if you are in touch with digital rights activists in Europe then please push the petition link in their direction and ask that they sign up too. The website is available in English, French and German.

If you've still got some energy left after that, please write to your MP about the issue. A Private Member's bill for copyright term extension will have its 2nd reading in the House of Commons on 7 March. We need more informed opponents of the Bill in Parliament so please tell your MP just how you feel on this issue. For advice on how to write to your MP and suggestions for the kind of arguments that work in this context, please read our blogpost.

Finally, if you're not already, please consider becoming a supporter of the Open Rights Group. Your regular financial contributions enable us to raise awareness of digital rights issues by staging events across the country, lobbying the British and EU Parliaments, and monitoring and engaging with the national and international press. When politicians talk to ORG, they know they're talking to a group that is funded by their voters, and they listen and act accordingly. So please, support the Open Rights Group!

More Botswanan Metal

Following up from my recent post, I've unearthed (thanks to the help of Wrust) a couple more Botswanan metal bands: Crackdust and Stane.  Crackdust play a competent version of brutal death metal; I didn't hear any samples on the Stane site. 

From the look at the Stane tours page it looks like there is quite a healthy scene with a fair few metal shows in Botswana, albeit shows in which the same small group of bands play. I still wonder whether Botswana is unique in having an 'African' (i.e. 'black') metal scene. If it was going to be anywhere it makes sense that it would be Botswana. In my very limited knowledge of the country, it is one of Africa's most stable and prosperous states. It may also be influenced by 'white' musical cultures in  South Africa and Namibia but within the context of a majority 'black' society (where metal isn't perhaps  associated  with a white ruling class). However, THIS IS ALL SPECULATION!

As I said in my earlier post, any further info would be very welcome.