Gesturing elsewhere: the identity politics of the Balinese death/thrash metal scene

Abstract

This essay explores the political significance of Balinese death/thrash fandom. In the early 1990s, the emergence of a death/thrash scene in Bali paralleled growing criticism of accelerated tourism development on the island. Specifically, locals protested the increasing ubiquity of Jakarta, ‘the centre’, cast as threatening to an authentically ‘low’, peripheral Balinese culture. Similarly, death/thrash enthusiasts also gravitated toward certain fringes, although they rejected dominant notions of Balinese-ness by gesturing elsewhere, toward a global scene. The essay explores the ways in which death/thrash enthusiasts engaged with local discourses by coveting their marginality, and aims to demonstrate how their articulations of ‘alien-ness’ contributed in important ways to a broader regionalism.

Eastern Desekratorz and Nuclear Metal Lust:1 Performing ‘Authentic’ black metal in Malaysian Borneo

“…In the particular case of South East Asia, this evidence was confirmed by Emma Baulch's (2003Baulch's ( , 2007 positing that death metal in Bali 'gestured elsewhere' by refraining from associating any of metal's core values with any specific geographies. However, the preference for using English lyrics suggests that the Anglo-American western 'elsewhere' represents a code which significantly impacts South East Asian ideas of 'authentic' metal performance.…”

“…The influence of British colonization in nations such as Malaysia and Singapore helped spread English-sung popular music (Kong 1996), thus promoting the idea of English language as the sole authentic code for all Anglo-Saxon-inspired popular music genres. Emma Baulch (2003) outlined how Balinese death metal enthusiasts did not consider local death metal music as serious or authentic if it was sung in languages other than English, or if incorporated local folk elements that were alien to American and British heavy metal traditions. Balinese death metal musicians hence 'gestured elsewhere' (Baulch 2003) and constructed their authentic practices by looking to foreign forms of heavy metal, refraining from associating any core values of the music movement with specific geographies.…”

“…Emma Baulch (2003) outlined how Balinese death metal enthusiasts did not consider local death metal music as serious or authentic if it was sung in languages other than English, or if incorporated local folk elements that were alien to American and British heavy metal traditions. Balinese death metal musicians hence 'gestured elsewhere' (Baulch 2003) and constructed their authentic practices by looking to foreign forms of heavy metal, refraining from associating any core values of the music movement with specific geographies. They also conceived metal authenticity as a self-imposed and orchestrated marginality that opposed the anak gaul -translated as 'sociable kid', or mainstream person -thus following the western concept of metal authenticity against a 'poseur' mainstream.…”

“…This article aims to update previous research on BM in the South East Asian region (Baulch 2003(Baulch , 2007Liew and Fu 2006) by discussing the dynamics in which a globalized BM scene constructed its 'authentic' identity against the backdrop of Malaysia's multireligious and multiethnic society. Malaysian BM has significantly developed in the East Malaysian states of Sarawak and Sabah, situated in the northern part of the island of Borneo.…”

The Price of Rebellion: Gender Boundaries in the Death Metal Scene

“…Purcell (2003, p. 194), in a work she calls "my defense of the Death Metal scene", describes and discusses the music and its fans, but focuses more on validating death metal to external critics than exploring the complexities of identity and participation in the subculture. Other researchers have examined death metal outside of North America and Europe: Harris (2000) and Avelar (2003) explored cultural identity in the work of Brazilian death metal band Sepultura, and Baulch (2003) studied the political significance of the death metal scene in Bali. Berger (1999) did ethnographic work on the death metal scene in Akron, Ohio; through a musicological analysis of a death metal song, he asserts that listeners construct meaning from music through the act of perception.…”