Le metal irakien en péril : Heavy Metal in Baghdad

[Everflow]

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A voir absolument!

"Heavy Metal in Baghdad" est à la fois une leçon de courage et d'abnégation jusqu'à la mort, en même temps qu'un cri tragique de désespoir.
Un documentaire qui a le mérite de nous plonger dans la réelle situation chaotique et dramatique de Bagdad, loin des communiqués laconiques et standardisés de l'AFP qu'on bouffe tous les jours dans les médias.
On réalise combien ces 4 jeunes ont beaucoup de chance d'être encore en vie après avoir vécu au contact de la mort et de la haine aveugle tous les jours, dans leur quotidien à Bagdad mais aussi au cours de leur exil en Syrie.
Le metal est finalement presque secondaire dans le message véhiculé par le reportage et par les membres du groupe irakien eux-même, qu'il s'agisse de leur défiance et acceptation de la mort, retenus à la vie par le rêve et la passion de la musique, autant que le rejet catégorique de la "démocratie" apportée sous forme de guerre civile par les occupants.

C'est souvent réalisé avec les moyens du bord, mais je pense que c'est vraiment à voir.

Et je viens de lire sur leur blog (http://www.heavymetalinbaghdad.com/blog.php) qu'ils sont actuellement en exil à Istanbul.

[metal militia]

EDIFIANT c'est le mot!
Finalement ils étaient pas si mal que ça sous le régime de Saddam Hussein.
Certes c'était une dictature mais c'était un pays organisé ...et civilisé!
Les ricains ont foutu un sacré bordel et les ont laissé s'entretuer.
ils disent qu'il y a 300 morts par jour là bas! ET quand on voit le documentaire, ce chiffre hallucinant est complètement justifié.
Les mecs qui avaient décidé de faire du métal là bas, c'était carrément du suicide.... surtout après la chute de Saddam; car au final les autorités de l'époque les laissait jouer si ils chantaient une chanson à la gloire de Saddam et que leur public ne headbanguait pas (car cela faisait référence à la prière des juifs le fait de headbanguer ).
Dingue que je puisse écrire que finalement sous un rgime dictatorial ils étaient mieux logés mais quand on voit l'enfer que c'est devenu, eux mêmes regrettent cette période. Merci les USA; tout ça pour l'or noir.
En tout cas ces mecs ont vraiment foi dans leur zique;avec eux l'expression "die for metal" prend tout son sens,parce qu'avec toutes les galères qu'ils ont connu , les morts, l'exil , la perte de tous leurs intsruments, de leur local de répet' (un sous sol de boutique détruit par un missile), l'abandon de leur pays et de leur famille au péril de leur vie pour rejoindre la syrie, tout cela juste pour essayer de pouvoir continuer leur groupe, c'est complètement suréaliste. J'espère qu'ils vont réussir à s'en sortir; en plus leur zique est plutôt sympa; et ils ont un pur gratteux soliste.

ACRASSICAUDA myspace :
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fu ... id=4940341


leur myspace déconne pas mal mais y a des morceaux sur youtube :







PETITE PRECISION : ce ne sont que démos alors le son est ce qu'il est , donc forcément pas très fameux ; mais dans le documentaire, quand il venaient d'avoir fini d'enregistrer ces 3 titres(alors qu'is devaient en faire 6) dans un tout petit studio en syrie, ils étaient aussi heureux que des gamins ouvrant leurs cadeaux de noel.

[metal militia]

Et je viens de lire sur leur blog (http://www.heavymetalinbaghdad.com/blog.php) qu'ils sont actuellement en exil à Istanbul.

oui il ya même eu un reportage sur eux sur leur arrivé à Istanbul sur la chaîne Al jazerra (mais en anglais) :

[Everflow]

Carrément sur Al Jazeera, ils vont finir par devenir des stars

En tout cas ça a l'air d'un peu mieux tourner pour eux maintenant

[Le G@SP]

Ma chronique du film sur mon blog :
http://ga.spou.net/?note=heavy-metal-in-baghdad

[Everflow]

Alex Skolnick (TESTAMENT) voulait les rencontrer et c'est désormais chose faite, sympathique histoire

TESTAMENT guitarist Alex Skolnick has issued the following update:

"The highlight of [the last week of June] for me was meeting, ACRASSICAUDA (Latin for 'The Black Scorpion'), Iraq's only metal band and the subject of the awesome documentary 'Heavy Metal In Baghdad'.

"Recently, I'd been in touch with the film's producers, both to express my appreciation for their work and to offer any assistance with increasing awareness of the film in the metal world. They informed me that the band was now living as legal refugees in Istanbul, Turkey, and that they (Vice Films) are working with an NGO (non government organization) and the UNHCR (United Nations High Commission For Refugees) to help their case and determine their future. Since TESTAMENT had a concert scheduled in Istanbul on our current tour, this presented the perfect opportunity to invite ACRASSICAUDA to our show. We had discussed it and figured the best thing was to send a reminder to them just before we arrived in Turkey. After doing so, I immediately heard back from Suroosh Alvi, the film's producer/director/narrator that the guys would like nothing more than to attend our show, adding that Marwan, the group's drummer, could not stop saying, 'It's f**king TESTAMENT!'

"After the last song, we took our bow and I immediately went to the fence by my side of the stage to look for the guys. Hordes of fans were running towards me yelling 'Aleex!! Aleex!!' and holding out tickets and pens for me to sign. Worried about not being able to find the guys in this mob, I reached through the team of burly Turkish security guards to shake a few hands. The guards, clearly thinking me out of my mind, tried to push the fans away and direct me towards the dressing room. I tried to explain, but they weren't understanding. Right then, I heard "Alex!! It's Marwan!" I looked out and saw him holding his cell phone, pushing his way through the hordes of screaming metal Turks.

"The crowd pushed forward and I lost him for a moment, the whole time trying to be nice to the sea of fans, whose numbers were increasing by the second. Finally, I saw Marwan again and signaled to a security guard that he and the others were fine to come back. A bit scuffed up, we hugged and high-fived each other. As he introduced me to each of the other guys, I felt I was meeting five long-lost friends, Faras, Faisal, Tony, Marwan and their buddy Cengiz. We walked backstage and it was immediately like a party.

"Most of the ACRASSICAUDA guys don't drink but they chain-smoke like nobody's business. I enjoyed my traditional post-show wine as the guys shared with me more details on their incredible story and updated me with recent developments. They couldn't wait for me to walk them around and introduce them to each guy from TESTAMENT. Marwan was especially excited to meet our drummer, Paul Bostaph, who used to play for SLAYER. It turns out Paul's his favorite drummer and they talked one on one for much of the time. Before the night was done, they guys presented me with a finished DVD of 'Heavy Metal In Baghdad' and a black wristband with their scorpion logo, which I've been wearing at every one of our concerts since.

"Soon it was time for the bus to take us back to the hotel, where we had about an hour until being taken to the airport at 4am. Yes, this life is brutal sometimes but nothing compared with what our Iraqi friends have lived through.

"A couple days later, I showed the film 'Heavy Metal In Baghdad' to the other guys from TESTAMENT, and they were blown away. It was hard for them to believe that those funny, crazy kids we met in Turkey had been through dictatorship, foreign occupation of their country and the destructive aftermath.

"While it was only recently that I first saw the film myself, I am proud to be contibuting in just a tiny way by letting people know about the film, inviting these guys to their first ever Western heavy metal concert and offering support. I look forward to staying in touch with ACRASSICAUDA, am so proud of their determination and perseverance and wish them the best."

Et le documentaire vient de sortir en DVD avec pas mal de bonus :

"Heavy Metal in Baghdad", a feature film documentary that follows ACRASSICAUDA from the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003 to the present day, was released on DVD on June 10.

Playing heavy metal in a Muslim country has always been a difficult (if not impossible) proposition but after Saddam’s regime was toppled, there was a brief moment for the band in which real freedom seemed possible. That hope was quickly dashed as their country fell into a bloody insurgency. From 2003 to 2006, Iraq disintegrated around them while ACRASSICAUDA struggled to stay together and stay alive, always refusing to let their heavy metal dreams die. Their story echoes the unspoken hopes of an entire generation of young Iraqis.

The "collector's edition" of the "Heavy Metal in Baghdad" DVD features over 90 minutes of bonus material, including the following:

* 45-minute featurette: "Heavy Metal In Istanbul" — the documentary that picks up where "Heavy Metal in Baghdad" left off
* Seven additional and deleted scenes: 30 minutes of extra content including extended interviews with the band plus a meeting with the "Iraqi Godfather" in Syria; three live performances: "Acrassicauda Live!" – Original ACRASSICAUDA songs "Underworld", "King Without A Throne" and "Message From Baghdad" performed in 2006 and 2008.
* Eight-page booklet: including the original Vice magazine article "No War For Heavy Metal"
* Movie trailer

For more information, visit http://www.heavymetalinbaghdad.com.

[Le G@SP]

En plus apparemment ils ont pu se laisser pousser les cheveux (ça paraitra sans intérêt pour ceux qui n'ont pas vu le film)

[Everflow]

Il y aurait un autre groupe actuellement à Baghdad : BRUTAL IMPACT. Ils ont joué devant 200 personnes la semaine dernière :

http://www.mideastyouth.com/2008/10/29/baghdad-rocks/

Wameeth of Mideast Youth reports: Just a few nights ago (on October 24), 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.

[youtube][/youtube]

[Everflow]

Voici venu un autre groupe de metal extrême à Baghdad, DOG FACED CORPSE, ils ont peur de rien :

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/w ... 163061.ece

Outside, the rain drummed down. Inside the Pharmacist’s Club, a private dinner venue on the banks of the Tigris, the beat was as relentless. Sweating fans thrashed, writhed and banged heads. Heavy metal was back, alive and kicking, in Baghdad.

For the first time in five years the hardest of hard rock was back in a city that has been more accustomed to the sound of artillery and suicide bombs than the deafening chords of a metal concert.

For two hours on a recent Saturday night Baghdad’s metalheads defied convention, and the militias that still terrorise much of the city, and rocked to Dog Faced Corpse, a band named after an apocryphal tale about gangsters who had stitched a dog’s head onto a victim’s decapitated body.

Latif Ahmed, 22, the drummer, who abandoned his engineering studies at Baghdad’s Mustansiriya University after a stream of death threats, found almost no support from friends or family for his “hare-brained” scheme to restore heavy metal to Iraq’s cultural scene.

“It’s very, very loud and our rehearsals made my neighbours very angry. We’ve had a lot of opposition,” he admitted last week. “But on the night it was great. About 250 headbangers showed up. Seven tables were broken. It was a full metal night — the day I’ve always dreamed about.”

The concert was a calculated act of defiance by Ahmed, whose jeans, long hair, goatee beard and taste for Black Sabbath and Metallica had marked him out for attacks at college by religious fundamentalists. Students loyal to Moqtada Al-Sadr, the Shi’ite clergyman, dragged him out of the university and threatened him.

However, the band was determined to press on. Those at the gig, many of whom had found consolation in heavy metal during Baghdad’s darkest days, yelled obscenities, “moshed” and smashed furniture just like western fans.

They also defied Iraqi convention by putting on heavy eye shadow, anarchist pendants and black T-shirts. Some girls even wore nail varnish and dresses that stopped well above the knee, a blatant act of rebellion in Iraq.

Muthana Mani, 21, a computer student and the lead singer, said afterwards: “I felt proud because after all the difficulties we did it. Yeah, we did it.”

[Le G@SP]

c'est cool tous ces groupes de metal qui fleurissent en Irak

[Noll]

Ceci dit le problème irakien est transposable dans tous les autres pays de l'Orient au sens large...
En iran il y a des problèmes comme en Egypte...

Mais on est moins renseignés sur ces sujets... Dommage!

[Everflow]

La suite de Heavy Metal in Baghdad est disponible en bonus sur le DVD mais aussi visible à cette adresse : Heavy Metal in Istanbul (46 minutes).

http://www.vbs.tv/player.php?bcpid=4523 ... 7184107001

On y voit le groupe désormais réfugié à Istanbul qui recommence à nouveau sa vie à 0, qui découvre émerveillé la "modernité" occidentale, qui redonne des concerts, qui attire l'attention de tous les médias, puis qui doit affronter à nouveau les dures réalités de la vie lorsque leur visa arrive à expiration. Malgré l'amélioration temporaire de leur situation on mesure encore une fois ce qu'ils doivent affronter et leur sentiment d'abandon, ils ne sont finalement nulle part chez eux... mais ils ont la foi.

A voir aussi, leur rencontre avec James Hetfield (limite plus gêné qu'eux!) et Lars Ulrich, vraiment sympa.

[sam 999]

Ah ouais, ce film je l'ai vu à Nantes y a quelques temps, bon même si je suis pas fan de leur musique, de leurs goûts ou n'importe quoi, ben c'est quand même sacrément fort ce que ces mecs ont fait !

[Everflow]

Dans un genre assez proche, un documentaire sur le metal en Syrie va sortir, aussi improbable que cela puisse paraitre.

Syrian Metal Is War is an independent documentary scripted, shot, produced, and edited by Monzer Darwish - a Syrian student of Computer Technology, Media, and Mass Communication. Monzer was also one of the founders of the former wide-spread Metal-J forum, and Monzer is addressing metal music and its survival in times of war in Syria. You can watch the 6-minute extended new trailer here.

Monzer stated on his Facebook post: "The full-length film is still under production, but we are facing a few problems that are awaiting resolve concerning funds and other means of resources. A release date is indefinite yet, but we are anticipating it to be some time in mid-2015. Work is continuing despite all difficulties, Syrian Metal Is War will be delivered."

In this documentary, the Syrian metal movement is addressed through the war that struck Syria in 2011 and is still ongoing to this very day, it identifies with both musicians and fans of metal in Syria and features their stories in a simple and flowing dialogue focusing only on the music and struggles, regardless of any orientations whether political, religious, and/or sexual. A 30-minute rough-cut of the film was screened at the 6th Norient Musikfilm Festival in Bern, Switzerland on January 17th.