Metal Jew

Zambian metal

Bob Macklin posted a comment on my post on metal in Africa alerting me to a Zambian group called Ngozi Familyled by Paul Ngozi and this track. The track appears to be a kind of syncretic and upbeat mix of southern African music and 70s hard rock/metal. One of Ngozi Family's albums was apparently called 'Heavy Metal'. Bob didn't give much further info but some googling revealed that Ngozi Family were (are?) part of something called the Zambian 'Zamrock' scene. I couldn't find much info as to whether it is current or a historical phenomenon. Still, it's fascinating to find an African form of rock. Does anyone know if there are other sub-Saharan black African rock scenes.

Yet more on black metal and the extreme right

Graeme has posted part three of his series on black metal and the extreme right - well worth reading. Parts one and two can be found here and here.

New Yiddish folk metal band

I heard from the ever reliable Jack about a new Yiddish folk metal band called Dibbukim. They are from Sweden and I don't know whether they are Jewish or not (not that that necessarily matters). They claim to be the only Yiddish metal band which means they haven't heard of the (possibly defunct) Gevolt. Anyway, the one track they have available is really promising:

My recent Ignite talk

I was priveliged to be able to present at the recent Ignite London event. My talk 'My dream came true and I'm still not satisfied: the journey of a Metal Jew' can now be viewed here.

More on black metal and the extreme right

Graeme has a couple of interesting posts, written in part in response to this blog, on black metal and the extreme right. Read them here and here.

More on Burzum

Update on previous post: a thoughtful response to my post can be found here - http://bit.ly/aO3PJF

The problem with Burzum

I haven't yet heard the new Burzum album.  I was supposed to get a promo copy but nothing has arrived just yet so I suppose I have been ignored. I am slightly embarassed to admit that I am looking forward to hearing it. The music of Burzum has always struck me as incredibly powerful in its stark, minimal beauty. Yet, like many others that I know, I also find my liking for Burzum difficult given Vikernes's loathsomeness. This isn't of course a problem confined to Burzum - there are loads of revolting artists in history who have created amazing work, Wagner being the most famous example - but it is particularly difficult given the location of Burzum's work in the metal scene.

As I've written at length before, there is a strong tendency in metal to play down or ignore anything that is 'political'. In my book I mentioned a interview with Vikernes conducted in prison and published in Terrorizer in 1996, that didn't discuss his racism or his killing of Euronymous. This month's Terrorizer has Vikernes on the cover and features a longish interview with him inside. It's not as much of a whitewash as the 1996 interview, but it still pulls its punches. There's some discussion of his renaming of the new album from 'The White God' to 'Belos' but little else that really delves properly into his racist beliefs. He doesn't say much about Euronymous either other than to deny his murder was premeditated. The interview seems to be a missed opportunity once again.

There are some in the scene who do loath Vikernes, some for his racism and some for his murder of Euronymous. Dig , founder of Earache Records (who nearly signed Burzum in the early 90s before Vikernes's views became clear) even posted a download link to the new album to try and sabotage it (the copyright implications of which are discussed here). 

Part of the problem with Burzum is that the issues surrounding the artist are often reduced to a choice between absolute anti-racist rejectionism and apolitical 'it's only music'-ism. I reject that choice. Burzum's work is simply too interesting musically to be dismissed outright but Vikernes's views are too much a part of his work to be simply ignored. What Burzum requires is active, critical listening that goes alongside an active, critical political imagination.

The issue gets even more complicated when you think through the implications of this: does the practice I suggest apply to all artists? Could Skrewdriver for example be listened to in this way? I would argue that Burzum is much more artistically important than Skrewdriver but pinning down exactly why is very difficult.