(no subject)
A few nights ago I attended my first Syrian metal show, something which I'm sure very few of my non-Arab friends even realize exist. I thought taking some photos and making known the Syrian metal scene would be a good opportunity to reveal that side of the Middle East that is rarely, if ever, displayed in Western media.
While there is no punk scene in Syria, there is a fairly large metal scene here, with local bands from most of the major cities. Many of them cover songs from western metal bands, no doubt in part because western metal bands never tour here (though some of them do tour in neighboring Turkey, Jordan, and Lebanon). Not surprisingly, many of them sing in English.
The show was held in a run-down cinema in downtown Aleppo which generally plays decade-old American action flicks or Egyptian comedies, and was surprisingly reminiscent of some smaller punk shows I've been to. Granted, I haven't been to any metal shows back home, but I can't imagine the atmosphere being terribly different, and I felt right at home. Most of the crowd was, not surprisingly, in the 16-30 age range, far more guys than girls. There was lots of long hair, metal band t-shirts, tattoos, and everything else that one would associate with metal music. There was a mosh pit, and even a fight broke out! Oh, and the police decided to shut down the show (thankfully not until their last song). It felt all so familiar...
The members of this particular band, Orion, were, as far as I know, all Armenians from Aleppo. Apparently most of the songs they played were covers of western groups, but I didn't really know any of them except the obligatory Metallica song.
Anyhow... photos:
The longer I've been here the more bothered I've become by the one-dimensional view of this region held by nearly everyone not from here. I've become sick of discussing politics, because I've become tired of this being the only perspective from which outsiders seem capable of viewing the Middle East. Most of those who find fascination in the politics of the region seem content to ignore everything else about the society, culture, and lifestyle.
I've met a disturbing number of foreigners here recently who are more interested in seeing the destruction inflicted on southern Lebanon during the recent conflict than are interested in admiring the monuments that are testiment to the thousands of years of civilization in the region. They seem far more interested in discovering the image of the Middle East they see in the western news media than they are interested in truly coming to understand the depths of this society.
Some people, after looking at my photos from the region, have suggested I should travel to Lebanon specifically to photograph the destruction from the war. But I think the last thing the world needs are more images to reinforce the idea of the Middle East as a place of eternal conflict, violence, war, extremism.
The vast majority of the photography I have done here has been of the historical and archaeological sites, as well as cultural sites such as the traditional souqs/markets, and religious shrines. This is because the website I'm putting together will be a guide to Syria's historical and cultural sites. I'm hoping this will also serve somewhat to show people there is far more to this region than politics.
I'm also hoping to have a chance, before leaving Syria, to photograph the more "modern" elements of Syrian society, because I think most of those who have never visited this region fail to realize how modern it really is. There are plenty of coffeeshops with WiFi internet access serving expresso and cappacino, and there are probably more camels in California than in Syria.
Oh, yeah... and I discovered photography in concert lighting without a flash is really fucking difficult. It was my first attempt, and maybe 400ISO wasn't high enough sensitivity.
While there is no punk scene in Syria, there is a fairly large metal scene here, with local bands from most of the major cities. Many of them cover songs from western metal bands, no doubt in part because western metal bands never tour here (though some of them do tour in neighboring Turkey, Jordan, and Lebanon). Not surprisingly, many of them sing in English.
The show was held in a run-down cinema in downtown Aleppo which generally plays decade-old American action flicks or Egyptian comedies, and was surprisingly reminiscent of some smaller punk shows I've been to. Granted, I haven't been to any metal shows back home, but I can't imagine the atmosphere being terribly different, and I felt right at home. Most of the crowd was, not surprisingly, in the 16-30 age range, far more guys than girls. There was lots of long hair, metal band t-shirts, tattoos, and everything else that one would associate with metal music. There was a mosh pit, and even a fight broke out! Oh, and the police decided to shut down the show (thankfully not until their last song). It felt all so familiar...
The members of this particular band, Orion, were, as far as I know, all Armenians from Aleppo. Apparently most of the songs they played were covers of western groups, but I didn't really know any of them except the obligatory Metallica song.
Anyhow... photos:
The longer I've been here the more bothered I've become by the one-dimensional view of this region held by nearly everyone not from here. I've become sick of discussing politics, because I've become tired of this being the only perspective from which outsiders seem capable of viewing the Middle East. Most of those who find fascination in the politics of the region seem content to ignore everything else about the society, culture, and lifestyle.
I've met a disturbing number of foreigners here recently who are more interested in seeing the destruction inflicted on southern Lebanon during the recent conflict than are interested in admiring the monuments that are testiment to the thousands of years of civilization in the region. They seem far more interested in discovering the image of the Middle East they see in the western news media than they are interested in truly coming to understand the depths of this society.
Some people, after looking at my photos from the region, have suggested I should travel to Lebanon specifically to photograph the destruction from the war. But I think the last thing the world needs are more images to reinforce the idea of the Middle East as a place of eternal conflict, violence, war, extremism.
The vast majority of the photography I have done here has been of the historical and archaeological sites, as well as cultural sites such as the traditional souqs/markets, and religious shrines. This is because the website I'm putting together will be a guide to Syria's historical and cultural sites. I'm hoping this will also serve somewhat to show people there is far more to this region than politics.
I'm also hoping to have a chance, before leaving Syria, to photograph the more "modern" elements of Syrian society, because I think most of those who have never visited this region fail to realize how modern it really is. There are plenty of coffeeshops with WiFi internet access serving expresso and cappacino, and there are probably more camels in California than in Syria.
Oh, yeah... and I discovered photography in concert lighting without a flash is really fucking difficult. It was my first attempt, and maybe 400ISO wasn't high enough sensitivity.