Report: Iraqi Heavy Metal Concert Gives Young People Chance To Express Themselves

January 12, 2004

Chris Hogg of the British Broadcasting Corporation is reporting that some people in Baghdad, Iraq are determined to try to get back to normal despite the poor security situation in the Iraqi capital. Among them are the organizers of what's thought to be one of the first post-Saddam Hussein heavy metal concerts at a community centre in the suburb of Karada.

Walid Rabiyah has spent hundreds of dollars of his own money on this gig and he, for one, is determined to have a good time.

Right from the start, the crowd is with them. There are few other places in the world where a heavy metal concert by a bunch of amateurs would make the headlines, but this one, in an upmarket suburb of Baghdad, has attracted a lot of attention.

Iraq's teenagers do not have many opportunities to let their hair down.

"It's a way that we can express ourselves," says Walid, who is the band's lead singer.

"All this rage and all this bad situation and all these bad atmospheres and bad feelings that we have endured all this time — trying to let it out in one day." Read more.

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