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Credit: mideastunes.com
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The Middle East. We know it well. For all the oil it gives us. And the U.S. military presence that makes sure we get the oil we need. That's the sad truth of our reliance on foreign oil in the United States. The Middle East also includes people, however, like the talented Iranians from Hypernova, a rock band featured recently on Planet Green Instrumental. Hypernova's lead singer mentioned in an interview that his home country sports quite a vibrant music scene, despite the risks involved with expressing yourself under an oppressive regime.
TEDFellows recently highlighted a site called MIdeast Tunes, which provides a platform for emerging underground artists in the Middle East and North Africa, where music is a form of activism.
It's important to support these musicians, and realize that there's more than oil in the Middle East, and better ways for us to get our energy than with military might. Mideast Tunes is a project of Mideast Youth, a volunteer media outlet that also likes Hypernova.
The Mideast Tunes site is working on an iPhone app and features an impressive, diverse genre of styles, from alternative to electro to heavy metal, hip-hop, rock, traditional and trance. Creativity is really alive and well in this region of the world. There's a lot going on, despite the risks involved to the people who create these sounds.
So listen and learn. The site is already getting some attention, from the likes of CNN, among others. The cable news giant featured Smouldering in Forgotten, a death metal band from Bahrain, in a March report.
The rock and metal movement in the Middle East is mostly an expression of freedom, the story notes.
We just don't know how good we have it in the United States. So let's use our freedom to support this type of social change.
Here's how a writer at Mideast Tunes put it:
"I think it's completely asinine to even think that music and social changes don't meld together. I believe what society consider 'underground music genres' such as metal, punk, alternative, etc are all bound by the notions of calling out society and showing their ugliness. In doing so, of course social change can occur."
Mideast Tunes also is a way to discover amazing new music with a powerful message.
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