Baghdad Rocks

This post by Aadel Rashid at ABC News Baghdad may be interesting to some readers here:

Just a few nights ago, Baghdad was rocking to more than the usual roadside bombs and mortars when some 220 heavy metal music fans gathered for Baghdad’s second heavy metal gig since the fall of Saddam’s regime in 2003.

The enthusiastic male and female fans packed into a small, local venue for more than two hours to hear the Baghdad band Brutal Impact knock out popular covers from the heavy metal stable, such as Slayer’s South of Heaven, Death’s The Philosopher and Metallica’s Nothing Else Matters
Lateef, the band’s drummer, said that the gig was “awesome” because they managed to perform several difficult songs from some famous metal bands, for a very appreciative audience.

The other band members told ABC News that they were thrilled with the show, despite losing one million Iraqi dinars ($800) in compensation to the club venue after seven tables were broken during the concert. They added that they didn’t mind the financial loss because they had done the gig for the sake of the music not money and that they were now looking forward to performing in more shows in the future. Lateef, the drummer, said, “it feels like our gig represents the rebirth of heavy metal in Iraq”, adding that his dream was to see more bands in the country.

The concert faced many obstacles: Lateef received an anonymous, threatening phone call, and while distributing fliers for the gig, Aws Adnan and Mustafa Muhanna, the Band’s managers, were stopped by police who thought they was distributing anti-government material. Luckily, according to the managers, there was an officer present who could read and reassured his fellow officers as to the nature of the fliers.

Wameed, a 30-year-old pharmacist, who attended the event, said it was an amazing night and one which would hopefully be repeated soon, as it ha been quite a while since Baghdad has had a heavy metal party. Wameed fondly recalled the good old days when the Baghdad metal scene was flourishing back in the 90’s. “I really couldn’t imagine that there was still an underground metal scene remaining here in Baghdad, I thought everyone had left,” he said.

The band sold 280 tickets to the show and despite the heavy traffic jams caused by the unseasonal rain storms, 220 of Baghdad’s most dedicated heavy metal fans braved the elements and omnipresent security risks to get to the show.

In the words of the band, what made their night, was to see their head-banging, loyal fans venting out their frustrations by banging their heads to some heavy metal tunes.

It was a full metal night!

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