For years, Egypt’s music industry has always been largely supported and produced by the government. From the likes of Abdel Halimm to Um Kulthum, who were key players in promoting nationhood and “al musiqa al arabiyya” (Arabic music) to achieve soft power in the Arab region, music no longer came to symbolise art, but a symbol of the nation. While it is true that all arts are largely shaped by a society’s culture and identity, many forget that art should mean freedom. Music is freedom. It does not need to express any nation or any flag, but simply the people that perform and enjoy it. This freedom for Egypt’s metal fans faced many setbacks. In the early 1990s, Egyptian state newspaper Rose Al-Youssef published a ‘study’ on youth who dressed in black, wore piercings and listened to metal. The article linked the metal fans to Satanism, which sparked a reaction from the state and led to the arrests and shutdown of many concerts. Later in 1997, the issue skyrocketed. Security forces arrested more than 100 young metal fans and charged them with promoting Satanism. While they were eventually released due to…
