Report: Saudis Rock To The Language Of METALLICA And MEGADETH

Anthony Shadid of the Washington Post has issued the following report:

JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia — It was past sunset, a little after the call to prayer, and time for the mic check at the sometimes-weekly jam session of Hasan Hatrash and his friends in this city on the Red Sea.

"Test, test, one, two, three," Hatrash said.

They adjusted the bass and fiddled with the reverb. Then they broke into an improvised, bluesy number that enveloped the makeshift studio at Amer Tashkandi's house. Islam Abu Jebara manned the Premier drums, Tashkandi glided his hands along the Roland Fantom keyboard, and Hatrash pulled at the strings of a bass emblazoned with stickers. "IRON MAIDEN" read one; "MEGADETH, Cryptic Writings," said the other. Hatrash nodded, his foot keeping cadence. His eyes, half-closed, suggested another world.

"I was born a rocker," Hatrash said.

Hatrash is 32, having spent some of his childhood in Britain, Egypt and Jordan, where his father was posted in Saudi embassies. His hair is salted gray, and his beard narrows to a point. His yellow T-shirt reads "Authentic Hendrix." Hatrash works as a reporter, but music with his friends is his passion. He calls himself a rocker, but he exhibits a Zen-like approach to life.

"Heaven and hell is here, man," he said, pointing to his head. "It's what you create."

Hatrash doesn't smoke. He doesn't drink. He prays five times a day and, like the others, considers himself a good Muslim.

"Life is all about simplicity, but we tend to complicate it, intentionally," he said.

Hatrash met Abu Jebara in high school, as they shopped for music at a store called Billboard. They traded names of their favorite bands: METALLICA and MEGADETH. They decided to jam together, and the friendship has lasted. Tashkandi came later, by way of classical training on the piano as a 7-year-old, and he still cites as his inspirations Chopin, Beethoven, Mozart and Bach.

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