Tucuman’s Heavy Piece

Heavy Metal: A loud and harsh, noisy music style, strong beated, usually with strong and shouted lyrics involving violence or fantastic imagination.

“And they heard the hard voice screaming like thunder, and so they knew, heavy metal was alive”.

People in Tucumán have different interests when speaking about music…some just listen to the most popular Tucumán music called: Cumbia or Folklore, while some actually get to listen Brutal Death Metal (a heavier genre derived from Heavy Meta)l. While walking on the streets, you may get to see lots of different styles, such as: Emos, who listen to a so called Sentimental Punk, the real Punk Rockers, who, of course listen to Punk Rock, and the ones I’m most interested in talking about: Metalheads, who blow up their minds with Heavy Metal.

Heavy Metal, since its birth date, in the middle of the twentieth century, has been criticised, pre-judged and thought of it as the Devils work, has actually become very popular among teenagers, and there are also adults who still listen to it.Unlike Punk Rock, which some people believe, died some time ago, Heavy Metal keeps bringing up new groundbreaking bands, songs, artists, and new albums that inspire the “heavy”community.

Here in Tucumán this music has never been as popular as it is today. People are really getting into it, and by forming new bands they are promoting the movement. Nowadays, you will see artists handing out flyers in the streets inviting you to their show. And so that the style doesn’t die they invite other bands to make them grow into fame. Theres a very clear image of companionship between the “metalheads”. This weekend, for example, Tucuman’s Metal Fest 2 (image on right side) is taking place, were local bands, and from other provinces will play a 2 day long concert for the fans of the style.

A few weeks ago, the most important Argentinian rock concert, Quilmes Rock, took place, not in Tucumán, but in Buenos Aires. Nevertheless a lot of Tucumán teenagers, and also adults have actually attended the show. This concert is so famous and important because of international bands coming to play for us. This year some of them were: Iron Maiden (Heavy Metal), Radiohead (Experimental, Post Metal, Rock), Kiss (Rock and Roll, Metal), and many others. But as I said before, local bands are also invited to aquire more fame among the Argentinian community.

For example, if a famous Power Metal, such as Sonata Arctica, or Stratovarius (both finnish bands) is playing, as lots of people are going to see it, local bands who want to be better known, will ask the famous one if they can play before them. And so, the band gets to perform infront of hundreds of people. Schools which indentify this style among their students, organize shows, or special days in which they sometimes invite famous bands in Tucumán, and the entrance fee won’t be as high as it would be in a regular concert. So, more people will attend, and the cycle just goes on and on. As we can see, people who actually like this music, want to get famous, and want to have an audience and in most cases become famous as their favourite bands. They do care about it all, and try to do something to get up high in the charts.

In my opinion, Heavy Metal is real music. It’s not just noise just as some people may say. This music style is very creative and it can also be aggressive. Artists actually put a lot of emotion in their music and lyrics. I believe that to be able to understand it you have to listen to it. People who pre-judge it and say that Heavy Metal is dead, or that actually it’s not good at all, are definetely ignorant about their life surroundings, and sometimes, their own culture. I think, unless they know about what they are talking about, keep their mouths shut and criticise what they actually know about. I got into Heavy Metal a few years ago and love it since then. I chose to play the keyboard which I will be playing soon with my band! The latest news of the style here in Tucumán talk about a new wave of Heavy Metal women bands that has hit Tucuman in the past few years. Girls now go solo or form a full women band showing their talent to the boys who think they are not talented. Some bands which have now aquired some fame, are for example, Shells, Pan Duro, Las Gomas De Eva, or Lima Limón. And for the fact that they are metalheads, they keep the so common Heavy Metal Step Off! (or in some cases, more agressive, F*** You) attitude. They assure they’ll keep on working on their stuff and show to the world they can do as well as anybody else. Girls keep their feminism even in this manly and violent style.