Baghdad heavy metal band on the run
The News Review:
- Baghdad heavy metal band on the run
- An Angel Hooked n Me
- Wintry Weather Hits US; Saudis Pardon Rape Victim
Baghdad heavy metal band on the run
Taipei Times – Dec 17, 2007
“Most Iraqis now know about us. To be known in Iraq is not a good thing. ” Inspired by US megaband Metallica the group came together in 2001 and immediately gained local notoriety which maybe should have been expected of a band playing heavy metal music in a conservative Muslim country. After the US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003 the musicians felt optimistic about events in the country and even spoke about recording an album. They drew the attention of journalists of New York counter-culture magazine Vice who wrote a feature on the hard-rocking group of friends which helped them garner an international following by what Latif now describes as “courageous die-hard fans. Backed by Vice Acrassicauda – named after a dangerous breed of black scorpion – staged a sell-out show in Baghdad in 2005 one of only six gigs they were able to perform in Iraq. The documentary Heavy Metal in Baghdad focuses on the Vice team’s attempt a year later to find out what had become of the band members after the eruption of bitter sectarian violence across Iraq… Backed by Vice Acrassicauda – named after a dangerous breed of black scorpion – staged a sell-out show in Baghdad in 2005 one of only six gigs they were able to perform in Iraq. The documentary Heavy Metal in Baghdad focuses on the Vice team’s attempt a year later to find out what had become of the band members after the eruption of bitter sectarian violence across Iraq. By then four of the group had fled to Damascus amid daily bombings telephone threats to their lives and the nightly prowlings of death squads on the hunt for intellectuals professors actors artists poets and musicians. The documentary makers finding the band gone their studio destroyed and a bloody turf war raging in Baghdad began tracking them along a dangerous trail that eventually led to Damascus where Firas 26 lead vocalist Faisal Talal 26 guitarist Tony Aziz 28 and 24-year-old drummer Marwan Riyak were regrouping. Along with more than another million or so Iraqi refugees who escaped to Syria they lived pretty much hand to mouth helped along by two gigs that brought in some funding. Syria began cracking down on Iraqis living there earlier this year and the band had to decide whether they could risk going back to Iraq as at least 25000 have done since September according to the Iraqi Red Crescent. They decided this was still too risky so they made their way instead to Istanbul in mid-ctober selling their musical instruments and raising limited funds through earnest pleas on their Web site www.
An Angel Hooked n Me
Variety (subscription) – Dec 18, 2007
barely got off the ground. Severe asthma forces Ana (Anca Florea) to maintain a sterile environment though she already has a predilection for barren walls and immaculate white spaces. A composer whose combination of traditional classical elements with industrial sounds (think rotating saw slicing through metal pipes) has made her a rising name in New Music circles Ana is hardly a social animal. She’s just as happy to spy on her neighbors as she is to go out with English friend Kate (Emily Daller). When a DVD arrives showing her going about her daily routines she’s curious but hardly disturbed. At first it’s not clear if she’s noticed the cryptic posters addressed to her around town but when a harpsichord is delivered she sends it back to the mystery benefactor. She finally files a complaint against her invisible stalker a sort of fallen angel if pic’s title is to be taken into account… Lazarescu”-like institutions will be surprised. Controlled bleak lensing displays talent while flashback sequences employ the usual tics from shaky images to scratched emulsion. Reviewed at Cairo Film Festival (competing) Dec. Running time: 96 MIN.
Wintry Weather Hits US; Saudis Pardon Rape Victim
CNN International – Dec 17, 2007
Severe weather also to the south over the weekend to tell you about. A tornado with wind gusts up to 109 miles an hour hit Pasco County Florida. The twister hit metal framed tents at a jail and destroyed one of them. More than 200 inmates were there just before the storm. No injuries though reported. The storm knocked out power for several hours for thousands of Tampa area customers. Three possible tornadoes struck south Georgia… until noon eastern. But did you know and there’s music you can take us anywhere you go on your iPod and hey you know you can ask for an iPod for the holidays if you don’t have one. Flu shots for preschoolers the law now in New Jersey. The first state in fact to mandate childhood vaccinations against flu and pneumonia. So we want to talk about it more with medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen who is joining me now.
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