• facebook
  • twitter
  • rss

Heavy Metal Refugees To 'Iraq' N Roll' In Istanbul

November 19, 2007

Asli Saglam of the Turkish Daily News reports: The story of Iraqi heavy metal music band ACRASSICAUDA is an adventure of war, death threats and survival. Five youngsters, inspired by famous western metal bands, formed the band in Baghdad in 2001. Even though they are famous in Iraq they could only give live performances there six times due to security reasons. They have since taken the stage in Syria and Jordan.

They will perform in Istanbul for the first time tomorrow in one of Istanbul's well-known rock bars, Kemanci. Faisal, who plays rhythm guitar, said they are thrilled about performing in Istanbul. The concert is more like a solidarity movement organized to support ACRASSICAUDA. When the war in Iraq started in 2003, the band's singer Waleed fled the country. In 2005, the rest of the band's members Firas, Tony, Marwan and Faisal escaped to Syria through Jordan because they were faced with death threats. Their music studio was bombed and the only way to survive was to flee their homeland.

"In the Middle East heavy metal music is not popular, but in Turkey many people listen to metal music. Turkey is like the gate to Europe," Faisal said. He said they weren't even thinking about leaving Iraq permanently. They miss Iraq and want to eventually return.

Find more on
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).