Middle Eastern Punk Bands!
I don’t really want to say too much in this post, except that these are some bands that i think need some much needed attention. Recently, there was a post about rock bands from Pakistan and their plight, so here’s to the kids that are dodging the secret police (mukhabarat) just to play some punk:
DETOX– This band female-fronted band from Lebanon rips. I’ve written about them before, but I think I need to reiterate how awesome they are…
MAZHOTT–This is a relatively new band from Damascus, Syria, whose name means “Diesel” in Arabic. They’re a little poppy and a little angsty, but it definitely works for them.
Creative Waste–Saudi ripper grindcore with early death metal influences. Need I say more? We’ve been talking about collaborating with them, but it’s still in the works…
Slumpark Correctional–From Lattakia, Syria, the stronghold of the Baath Party, these kids play some thrash-influenced stuff. Unfortunately, the music on their Myspace doesn’t work, but you can probably find their music elsewhere. Also, their song was in the Taqwacore documentary, last I heard.
Of course, there are more. I wish I could make a comprehensive list, but I’ll probably just post shit in the comments when I come across links that are of interest…
-Marwan
p.s. Oh, and of course, you should never forget to check out my friend, Usama’s film, “Nice Bombs.” He’s definitely creates Taqwacore film in terms of his more experimental films, although it’s not about “taqwacore” itself. This film, however, is about him going back to Iraq for the first time in 2004 after 20+ years away.
Don’t worry, Mazhott has lyrics in their other songs as well.. Check ‘em on Myspace.
Hi,
there are many other Punk and HC bands in arabic states, although the Metal scene is much bigger… you can find them easily through my msypace (www.myspace.com/lostxmusic), where I’ve collected more then 100 bands and fanzines from this area and there are a few interviews with bands from there too…
here are 5 bands I like:
Massive Scar Era (all female metal from Egypt)
Demokhratia (Hardcore from Algeria)
Sound of Ruby (Punk from Saudi Arabia)
Illtunes (Trash from United Arab Emirates)
Acrassicauda (Metal from Iraq, now refugees in Turkey)
… I don’t want to forget to say, that in most islamic countries Rock concerts are forbidden and recordings are impossible, just egypt and lebanon seems to be a little bit more free. Lots of Heavy Metal musicians get in conflict with the system and imprisioned because of wearing Tatoos, Black T-Shirts or beeing pierced, you’ll find some cases easily on the internet.
… if you trace back the histories of Rockmusic in arabic countries (and this is really hard, because most of the music got lost), you’ll find out that there was always an interest of eastern musicians in western music and instruments and in musical collaboration – from Afganistan to Syria, from Lebanon to Morocco… as easiest to see in the turkish Beatbands of the 60ies and 70ies and the turkish Punkbands of the 80ies and 90ies, that all had influences from western and eastern music and political thoughts…
All the best… Gunter
Gunter .. heyy
im sherine , lead vocal and guitarist of the egyptian band Massive scar Era .
I m so happy that you’re into our music ..
i was randomly typing our band’s name and i saw your comment
… keep checking our website for the new songs … thxxxx
cheers
sherine
Sherine,
So I’m really excited to find this!
I’m a student trying to do research on women of the punk movement in the Middle East.
I’ve checked out your Myspace and your music seems great
I’d love to hear more about your band.
Best,
Angela
I think Acrassicauda’s are in NY now. They are pretty good. I need to know more about the punk scene in Beirut. I’m going there this summer.
Massive scar Era actually played with Acrassicauda in LA’s whiskey a go go .. the band is AWESOME !!!! but they dont play punk .. they are heavy metal
I am an iranian-german and I just moved to chicago I would loooove to see some of these bands live since there are no punk muslim bands in germany! (there are some in Iran, but it’s forbidden for them to have shows so it’s really hard to see them live)
SOOO GIVE ME A HEADS UP IF THERE ARE ANY SHOWS HERE
You are right, as far as I know, there is no such band in germany, I just remember on Samavayo, a german band with an iranian singer and guitarist, playing good rock-music… I never saw any of these bands to, just a few videos on youtube…
Yea Samavayo are not bad, but there are better bands in iran I think.
I am so tired of youtube I wanna see some real muslim punks live!