The first Inaugural World Metal Congress is to be held this weekend on Friday 22nd and Saturday 23rd of March in London at Bethnal Green Road in London and it looks set to be a landmark event. Representatives from many different fields will be doing talks to talk about how the musical genre has had an impact globally, particularly how it is viewed in other parts of the world that have strict religious laws and have had oppressive regimes such as South Africa and Singapore and there will also be premieres of documentaries dealing with the subject as well live performances. Tickets can be obtained from£15 here.
The event was the brainchild of former Metal Hammer editor Alexander Milas and was conceived in partnership with several academics and industry figures in the hope of recognising the genre as a culturally relevant art form. Says Milas: “This is a world-first. In these troubling times the fact that this music resonates with people of every colour and culture and creed is an incredibly special thing, and we want to shout that from the rooftops. With the w\m/c we’re creating a unique forum to help bring that truly global community together, and we’ve already had a phenomenal response.”
Tony Iommi, guitarist of genre creators Black Sabbath has given his blessing to the event stating: “I’m really pleased to hear that the World Metal Congress will be taking place in the UK. The Metal community is huge but rarely gets the recognition it deserves. My best wishes for a successful event.”
The funding for the event came from an Arts Council Grant and the first day’s talks will be dealing with different aspects of metal as an industry featuring executives from such things as BBC Radio 1, the genres biggest festival, The Wacken Open Air in Germany as well as one of the genre’s most politically outspoken figures, Napalm Death frontman Barney Greenway who states:”Human rights and universal artistic licence are tightly intertwined. Breaking tired old stereotypes, celebrating free creative expression without borders and confronting and debating challenging ethical band decisions continues to be an absolute must.”
The second day will be a whole day of premiere’s of documentaries looking at how the genre has broken cultural barriers and a live set from Singapore grindcore band Wormrot. Perhaps what will truly make this event historical however will be a talk from a musician from one of the worlds most currently war-torn places: Syria. Jake Shuker from Syrian band Mayalsaloon will be coming all the way from Damascus to speak at the event, marking the first time a native Syrian has been allowed to do such a thing since the beginning of the war. Shuker will be joined by Monzer Darwish who is also a Syrian musician who is the director of “Syrian Metal is War” which is one of the films being shown.
