Rock the Casbah
- Posted by: AnneloesVanGaalen
- on September 24, 2007 at 3:18 pm
In Egypt, you’re much more likely to hear the call to prayer than a face-melting guitar solo, so Dutch photographer Aukje Dekker was surprised to find a thriving underground heavy- and death-metal scene. Fascinated, she documented it in a series of photos.
“In the West, heavy metal is generally associated with low lifes and trailer trash,” says Dekker, “but the situation in Egypt is completely reversed. These kids are the children of diplomats and other well-off Egyptians who get to travel abroad or who own a satellite television, which is how they got be exposed to heavy metal.”
A 1997 government crackdown on “Satanic music” led to dozens of arrests and the banning of concerts, but the scene is enjoying something of a comeback. “There is still a general consensus that heavy metal is a Satanic expression,” says Dekker, “so when these kids walk down the street with their long black hair and matching T-shirts, they are often called names, but that doesn’t stop them from pursuing their musical passion.”
LEARN MORE
aukjedekker.nl
DISCUSSION: 4 Comments
Probably one of the funniest quotes I have ever read.
“In the West, heavy metal is generally associated with low lifes and trailer trash,” says Dekker, “but the situation in Egypt is completely reversed. These kids are the children of diplomats and other well-off Egyptians…”
I don’t know what disturbs me more; this kids misguided interpretation that metal in the west is associated only with low life’s or that somehow coming from a pedigree background makes metal cool.
In the west (and most of the civilized world) metal is the music of the youth… period. It knows no class lines and in the last decade has proven that it knows no color. Metal is the expressive voice of teen angst.
Being children of well-to-do diplomats somehow takes some of the edge off of what is and should be edgy music. I don’t know – visualizing some disgustingly wealthy kids rocking out on their high ticket instruments in their dads mansion seems to lack a certain credibility in my book.
While it is heartening to see expansions in cultural spectrum (especially supressed forms), it is also deflating to see it selectively spread. Assigning trivial qualities like income to genres of music seems to bastardize the expression. It is unsubtantial commonalities that will lead to further supression (the music is banned because ALL of it is satanic, no?).
In any case, I hope those wealthy punks fight the power. METAL FOR ALL!!!
Its abit much to arrest people for listening to Death music for Satanistic tendencies, an offence to have to listen to but not a criminal one
Danny
Listening to the
sound of a delicate
hovel, and recalling
a wonder, I see
magic profiles near
the heart of a
luminous pine-tree;
the wind fades
away, the care of
a blackbird describes
and emotion and
always, in silence,
your beautiful mind
returns in the sky.
Francesco Sinibaldi