Mark LeVine

The protests in Egypt earlier this year led to the downfall of the almost 50 year dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak. Millions of Egyptians, led by youth and students, took to the streets to demand his departure. Among them may very well have been a number of "metaliens" - fans and creators of metal music in Egypt - interviewed by Levine in this engaging survey of youth, subcultures and politics throughout the region.

How does extreme music interact with oppression? In his journey through the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia, Levine explores extreme music as a mode of resistance for young people alienated by dictatorship and conservative culture. Besides expressing an appreciation for rock, metal and hip-hop throughout the region, he also explores the history of the music there and its relationship with political and cultural forces. The result is a cross-section of the edges of societies he's looking at - in Egypt, for example, he interviews metal bands as well as political dissidents such as the Muslim Brotherhood, and puts them in dialogue with each other. At the end of the day, he claims, they're all fighting for something similar, although they have some miles to go if they are to come together.

The political bent of this book - anti-imperialist, pro-freedom of expression - was pretty solid, and Levine goes out of his way to note the roots of the problems young people in these countries face in both the governments and societies of their countries as well as the US role in supporting these governments. One thing that struck me about the bands interviewed in the book was their generally middle-class nature. As the author notes, in the US and Europe, metal and hip-hop arose out of working-class roots. However, in the countries examined, these metal scenes have tended towards middle- and upper-class artists. Why this is isn't for sure, although the book suggests openness to Western culture as well as access to the means of getting the music may be a large part of it.

Levine points to the openness and against-the-grain personalities of these privileged young people, as well as a number of opposition parties and movements, as an alternative to conservative morality, militancy, and armed struggle, which appear in the book to be more appealing to poor and working-class youth. The class dynamics of these tendencies deserve greater examination.… (mais)