CRACK DOWN ON METAL IN THE MIDDLE EAST?

Best of 2008, and "Notes From the Extreme Metal Underground" coming up next. The Middle east is again, cracking down on heavy metal culture. (We wish we could be at DESERT ROCK) FROM SIRIUS XM SATTELITE RADIO and SMNNWES.COM: In a show of solidarity with recent crackdowns on heavy metal bands and fans in Jordan and Iran, the ‘Bloody Roots’ weekly heavy metal history lesson on Sirius XM satellite radio hosted by Ian Christe (publisher of Bazillion Points Books, author of “Sound of the Beast“), will feature this week an hour-long overview of resistant metal music from across the Middle East.

Representing a maelstrom of styles, pioneering bands to be highlighted will include: MELECHESH (Israel), SALEM (Israel), ORPHANED LAND (Israel), ACRASSICUAUDA (Iraq), BILOCATE (Jordan), MEZARKABUL (Turkey), BLOOD INK (Lebanon), DARK PHILOSOPHY (Egypt), DUSK (Pakistan), ANGBAND (Iran), and NERVECELL (United Arab Emirates).

The ‘Bloody Roots of Middle Eastern Metal‘ show will air at the following times on Sirius XM Liquid Metal:

Saturday, May 30 @ 6pm ET
Sunday, May 31 @ 2pm ET
Tuesday, June 2 @ 3pm ET
Thursday, June 4 @ 9pm

Also, Jordanian heavy metal musician Muhannad Bursheh (Tyrant Throne,Bilocate) has granted an interview to the GLOBAL POST explaining the supression of metal culture in the middle east.FROM GLOBAL POST: AMMAN, Jordan — Muhannad Bursheh hardly seems like the kind of guy who would be viewed as a troublemaker. He’s an audio engineering student enthusiastic about ancient Middle Eastern mythology and he lives with his family in Abdoun, one of Amman’s upscale neighborhoods. But Bursheh is also the member of three heavy metal groups.

Though they don’t sing about Satanism or anarchy — most of his band’s songs are about Mesopotamian and Nabataean legends — his group, Tyrant Throne, is at odds with many Jordanians who believe they are Satanists, so like most heavy metal bands they have a difficult time playing in Jordan.

In one of the Middle East’s more liberal countries, heavy metal music has become a flash point for freedom of expression. Though most groups popular within the subculture don’t sing about anything contrary to the government or religion, they’re unable to book gigs in Jordan because of misconceptions about metal.

"It comes and goes. You have two years of total freedom of metal in Jordan and then three years of nothingness, which is where we’re living now, with no gigs or nothing, so all you do is work for yourself and promote yourself outside Jordan," Bursheh said.

In the 1990s, Jordan had a respectable metal scene. It wasn’t major, but there were regular concerts and several specialized shops that sold albums and paraphernalia by the likes of Iron Maiden and Twisted Sister.

But some time around the late '90s without any clear explanation the shops were closed and concerts weren’t allowed. Since then, acceptance of heavy metal has varied from year to year, leaving metal heads only to speculate.

Most recently, heavy metal shows were tolerated for much of 2005 and 2006, but in 2007 acceptance of metal declined and now groups say its impossible to book concerts in Jordan.

Part of their trouble may have to do with the widely held public perception that heavy metal music is a form of satanic worship. Throughout Jordan rumors circulate that metal heads do everything from drink cat’s blood to inject themselves with a magical green liquid that allows them to play the guitar perfectly. Many of these stories are printed in major newspapers.

“The most dangerous thing to metal in Jordan is bad news articles,” said Rami Haikal, a guitarist for Bilocate.
Additionally, metal heads are viewed as slackers or delinquents, whereas in Jordan many tend to come from middle- or upper-class backgrounds where they were exposed to Western culture. Members from some of Jordan’s most successful heavy metal bands have day jobs as computer programmers, managers and youth counselors.

"I’m a family man. I have two kids. I sustain a good and responsible life and yet I pursued my passion for music," said Hani Abadi, a bassist in Bilocate whose day job is working as a personnel manager.

Groups can still rehearse in private and even broadcast their music over the Internet. Most groups also travel outside of Jordan to perform. While Europe has hosted concerts for several Jordanian metal groups, other Arab countries like Lebanon, Egypt and Dubai allow performances, though metal heads say that could change just as easily as it does in Jordan.

For Haikal, who says most of his band’s music focuses on human emotion in difficult situations, it can be frustrating to hear other types of music that are allowed in the country without facing any serious scrutiny. In one of Amman’s Western-style malls where he used to work, he says stores often played pop songs with obscenities and overt sexual innuendo.

"Parents were going around the store and they just ignored it, but if you put on metal music, they’d say 'Oh no, this is the devil’s music! Stop it!'" he said.

Abadi acknowledges that heavy metal’s angry sounds might be off-putting for some people, but he says it is just an emotional outlet. Many of his band’s songs have an anti-war theme, which he says it’s hard not to get angry about.

"You can’t talk about war and have this kind of Back Streets Boys vocals in the background. The issues we tackle are very serious and when you’re angry you don’t talk in a normal tone, you shout … and you get relief out of it," he said
In IRAN, metal shows have been raided under suspicion of "Satanic devil worship". FROM NINEMSN.COM: Iran has arrested more than 100 "Satan-worshippers" in a raid on a concert in the southern city of Shiraz where people were drinking alcohol and "sucking blood", a newspaper reports.

"One hundred and four members of a Satan-worshipping group were arrested at a party and immoral concert in Shiraz (on Sunday)," local Revolutionary Guards chief Abbas Hamidi was quoted as saying by Jam-e Jam newspaper on Wednesday.

"The session was held in a garden outside Shiraz and the Satanist ceremony was broadcast live to the world via the internet," he said, adding the arrests were made by members of the Islamist Basij militia linked to the Guards.

"These people drank alcohol, hurt themselves and sucked blood," Hamidi said. "They even bow to Satan in some ceremonies."

Iranian authorities sometimes link hard rock and heavy metal music and their icons with devil worship. Alcohol is banned in the Islamic republic.

Jam-e Jam carried pictures of drum sets and amplifiers seized in the raid and a group of young men photographed after the arrest sitting on the floor of an official-looking building with their backs to the camera.

It said some of the detainees sported tattoos and body art resembling the wings of birds and car emblems.

Hamidi said Basij intelligence forces operating under the Revolutionary Guards had put "foreign-linked groups and their venues" under surveillance for a year before making Sunday's arrests.

Over the past two years Iranian police and security officials have warned against the emergence of "Satanist" cults accused of corrupting the young, amid a tough nationwide crackdown on "unIslamic" attire and behaviour.

In September 2008, a senior police chief said members of the so-called cults would wear "broken-cross and skeleton necklaces and rings, drink alcohol and dance in their ceremonies."

"They believe they should defy religions, especially Islam, do as they want and drag the world into anarchy," deputy police chief Hossein Zolfaghari said.

In 2007, police arrested 230 people in a raid on an illegal indie rock concert in a garden near Tehran and several reports branded the party-goers as Satan-worshippers.
Thanks-Stay Metal, Stay Brutal-\m/ -l-