Never went for this myself. For my generation it was Rock:N Roll and Doo Wop.
How heavy metal music is causing a stir in Egypt
The loud music, frenzied dancing and powerful sounds of a metal rock concert create an atmosphere that can be scary to some in Egypt — especially since it sometimes results in police raids and accusations of devil worship.
Summary⎙ Print A concert in Cairo scheduled for later this month has revived a decades-long controversy over heavy metal music and accusations of devil worship.
Author Ahmed FouadPosted February 18, 2016
TranslatorJoelle El-Khoury
So brace yourselves.
Nader Sadek, an Egyptian metal music performer, said on his Facebook page Jan. 7 that a Masters of the Middle East concert will be held Feb. 20 at Amoun Hotel in Giza featuring four famous metal bands: Inquisition (United States), Perversion (United Arab Emirates), Smouldering in Forgotten (Bahrain) and Al-Azif (Egypt).
Inquisition, in particular, has raised a lot of eyebrows. While Al-Monitor could not find any statements by the band members asserting that they are actual Satanists, the band’s frontman, Dagon, said in an interview with the Isolation Grind blog in 2011 that “Black Metal is very satanic.”
“It is individualism, elitism, rebellion against unnecessary control, pride with a cause. Everything that [the Christian Bible] tells us about ‘the devil’ is in essence what Black Metal is, but through sound waves. Forget [for] one moment about Christianity in general and think of Satanism as the negative pole.”
Mohammed Mamdouh, a guitarist and singer in the band Salasel, has been organizing metal concerts in Egypt since the 1990s. He told the Egyptian O News Agency (ONA) in January that controversy arose back then when one metal concert organizer in Alexandria accused another one in Cairo of including satanic rituals in his concert. The complaint caused panic in the community; some musicians and fans were arrested and some metal concerts were banned, which in turn aroused the ire of metal music fans, and then concerts resumed.
The Manassah website said in a Feb. 4 report that metal music started to be linked to Satanism after an article titled “Satanism club in Heliopolis” was published in 1996 by Rose al-Yousef newspaper.
This was followed by a series of articles on the topic with such colorful headlines as “Satanism slogans on the walls of Mansheya El-Bakry,” “The desecration of the tombs of the Commonwealth” and “Satanist prayers in the desert of Saqqara.” Manassah said those articles clearly sought to instigate wrath against listeners and performers of metal music.
And that they did. Egypt’s news website Dotmsr said in a March article that the first time an Egyptian youth was arrested on charges of Satanism was in 1996. Dotmsr said in 1997 an Egyptian police officer was suspicious about his son's behavior and found out the youth had joined a group performing rituals such as playing and dancing to heavy metal music. The officer feared they might be Satanists and arrested the group. The most famous such case in Egypt’s history happened that same year, when 86 young men and women were arrested for allegedly worshipping Satan at the abandoned Baron Palace.
While security services said they had proof the young people performed rituals worshipping Satan, those arrested denied it. Some authors and journalists began to sympathize with them, saying the matter was only treated prominently in the press so it would be discussed in the community, not so it would be turned into a crime.
Read more: How heavy metal music is causing a stir in Egypt - Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East
How heavy metal music is causing a stir in Egypt
The loud music, frenzied dancing and powerful sounds of a metal rock concert create an atmosphere that can be scary to some in Egypt — especially since it sometimes results in police raids and accusations of devil worship.
Summary⎙ Print A concert in Cairo scheduled for later this month has revived a decades-long controversy over heavy metal music and accusations of devil worship.
Author Ahmed FouadPosted February 18, 2016
TranslatorJoelle El-Khoury
So brace yourselves.
Nader Sadek, an Egyptian metal music performer, said on his Facebook page Jan. 7 that a Masters of the Middle East concert will be held Feb. 20 at Amoun Hotel in Giza featuring four famous metal bands: Inquisition (United States), Perversion (United Arab Emirates), Smouldering in Forgotten (Bahrain) and Al-Azif (Egypt).
Inquisition, in particular, has raised a lot of eyebrows. While Al-Monitor could not find any statements by the band members asserting that they are actual Satanists, the band’s frontman, Dagon, said in an interview with the Isolation Grind blog in 2011 that “Black Metal is very satanic.”
“It is individualism, elitism, rebellion against unnecessary control, pride with a cause. Everything that [the Christian Bible] tells us about ‘the devil’ is in essence what Black Metal is, but through sound waves. Forget [for] one moment about Christianity in general and think of Satanism as the negative pole.”
Mohammed Mamdouh, a guitarist and singer in the band Salasel, has been organizing metal concerts in Egypt since the 1990s. He told the Egyptian O News Agency (ONA) in January that controversy arose back then when one metal concert organizer in Alexandria accused another one in Cairo of including satanic rituals in his concert. The complaint caused panic in the community; some musicians and fans were arrested and some metal concerts were banned, which in turn aroused the ire of metal music fans, and then concerts resumed.
The Manassah website said in a Feb. 4 report that metal music started to be linked to Satanism after an article titled “Satanism club in Heliopolis” was published in 1996 by Rose al-Yousef newspaper.
This was followed by a series of articles on the topic with such colorful headlines as “Satanism slogans on the walls of Mansheya El-Bakry,” “The desecration of the tombs of the Commonwealth” and “Satanist prayers in the desert of Saqqara.” Manassah said those articles clearly sought to instigate wrath against listeners and performers of metal music.
And that they did. Egypt’s news website Dotmsr said in a March article that the first time an Egyptian youth was arrested on charges of Satanism was in 1996. Dotmsr said in 1997 an Egyptian police officer was suspicious about his son's behavior and found out the youth had joined a group performing rituals such as playing and dancing to heavy metal music. The officer feared they might be Satanists and arrested the group. The most famous such case in Egypt’s history happened that same year, when 86 young men and women were arrested for allegedly worshipping Satan at the abandoned Baron Palace.
While security services said they had proof the young people performed rituals worshipping Satan, those arrested denied it. Some authors and journalists began to sympathize with them, saying the matter was only treated prominently in the press so it would be discussed in the community, not so it would be turned into a crime.
Read more: How heavy metal music is causing a stir in Egypt - Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East
