Source:http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jxbfNT6wiN2oOOgxeuNf-As3fvpQ
15th Sept 2008
MAENTSAELAE, Finland (AFP) — Most teens may not get excited about church, but in Finland they go out of their way to attend in the latest testimony to the country's infatuation with heavy metal music: Metal Mass.
Inside, Pallaskari and her classmates squash together on packed pews, belting out hymns as a lead singer moshes wildly onstage to his band's earsplitting tones.
When the music stops, the students burst into ecstatic applause and whistles -- to smiling approval from Pastor Haka Kekaelaeinen. It's Metal Mass -- or Metallimessu -- and it's okay to be loud.
Not everyone is happy with the mix. Some churchgoers feel loud rock music has no place in a house of God, and some pure metal fans accuse the Lutheran Church of co-opting their music to lure young people.
If it has a niche audience elsewhere, heavy metal is now mainstream in Finland. Helsinki alone abounds with heavy metal karaoke bars, dedicated metal clubs and regular gigs, adding to the dozens of summertime heavy metal festivals held around the Nordic country.
Some say the answer lies in the Finnish character.
"Finns are known to be reserved, serious and very honest ... Somehow heavy metal fits into this as it is no-nonsense, honest, straightforward and quite gloomy," Mikko Saari, a co-founder of Metallimessu, tells AFP.
The Metal culture has always been at ends with the world and being a highly individualistic one,more so with the highly conservative culture of that with religion.Although,as society moves forward ,a change is about to brew in those 2 very different worlds.
For a long time,since the early 1980s,heavy metal has always been considered a less valid form of music,the sort only the socially less inclined would lend their allegiance too.It has been called the Devil's music(like so many other music styles before it including The Blues and even Classical Music).The music censorship laws that many listeners from all genres of music tolerate was first inn acted because of the lyrical insanity that could stem from some metal songs.It was feared back then,and even now because people thought it bred violence amongst teens and adults.The fashion style of metal heads has always been in question as with its attitude that it portrays.In short,it was a culture that obviously did not belong in that of any popular culture then.
Truth is though,things are starting to change.Yes,we still enjoy the gloomy yet comforting feel of wearing black and leather .Many of us are still hedonist at heart and enjoy the sense of freedom that Metal music brings to us.However,society itself is starting to be a little less negative about it.More bands are touring various cities all over the world,where they were previously banned.Various sub-genres of metal has spawned ranging from old school
Heavy Metal(Metallica)
all the way to
Melodic Death(Scar Symmetry)
More commercial like genres have also popped out including
Rap /Nu Metal.(Limp Bizkit/System of a Down)
And finally ending with the
Black Metal (Rotting Christ)
and the latest trend in Metal...Christian Bands.(Demon Hunter)
It is interesting to note how more Christian bands are starting to integrate the aggressive and low context culture with that of increasingly high context society,especially with religion.However,Finnish bands ,as stated in the article are doing just that.Europe has always been the premier continent for Metal Bands/Music and culture and ironically,so because of its vast classical music roots.However Finland seems to be the breeding ground for anything thats Metal these days.They have metal clubs,karaoke,metal music schools and the best bands from metal are usually always from Finland for some bizarre reason.Must be something in the water...
And all this coming from a country with a strong Christian background.In 2006, the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Finland had more than 4.3 million members, that is 82% of the population, registered with a parish. The Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Finland is an Episcopal Church with a very strong tradition of parish autonomy.It is quite amazing how two different worlds are collide and create such a perfect union when nobody thought possible.
I think therein lies to the solution to the many problems that we face in the world.And that is how we in society are able to tack the problems of mis-communication between cultures and the individual self.I feel that society needs to make a constant push into integrating cultures together a unity of sorts.I feel,in my opinion,the many problems of this world is the segregation of cultures and communication .Individualism can be a good thing but its not when one is completely cut off from the world ,that can create problems.Be it music or religion or even politics,the world needs to work together to find some sort of middleground without compromising they individualistic sense of cultures.Only then,can we truly progress.
8 comments:
Maybe it's just me, but I don't get how metal music can correlate with the feel of Christianity. Christianity always gives a sort of peaceful, calm feeling. Jesus himself was the epitome of grace and forgiveness, a very controlled and subdued individual, was he not? Metal music, on the other hand, gives me a feeling of conflict, anger, and isn't restful. Traditional/uplifting Christian music seems more in line with the effects of the religion. Some things don't go together because they are in actual fact, too different (forgive my lack of eloquence).
Actually the majority of Metal music focuses on the positive but in a more darker way.Sure it ain't all cheery and it can be angry sometimes but from the past 15 years of listening to it,I can only attest to the fact that I have generally become a lot more sane because of it.
It is a wonderful catharsis from the pain and stress of daily life and its very very uplifiting for me and many people.I can understand if someone dislikes Metal because its "noisy",because of musical preference but to say it "angry and harmful" music is like saying Lovey Dovey Pop music makes teenagers promiscuous
.
I think what the Finnish did brilliant was injecting the energy of Metal music as a way to attract the younger crowd to worship and attend mass.
Ironically I view Jesus as one if the biggest yet positive rebels to have emerged in history.He was prosecuted by the religious elite because they refuse to agree with the changes he was proposing forth.At that time,he was ridiculed and hated by the Pharisee and the Gentiles.
I dare say Christianity itself did not exactly had a very controlled and subdued start in its conversion of the world =P.
i agree with Kristy here about how heavy metal and Chritianity don't compliment each other.Im catholic and i don't see how it does. BUT BUT...hold your horses Raj, i also contradict myself to go as far as to say that if metal bands bring the youth to church and close to God, then its all for a good course. But again, We shouldnt go to church for Heavy metal music instead of Him. Im not gonna go all religious about this.
And yes, the world has to come to an understanding regarding cross-culture debates and conflicts. Isnt this why fights or wars and waged over the slightest misinterpretation of values and norms?...
true, i don't think i can praise the Lord through metal music...
i agree with kristy and slize that praises of worship should be uplifting, soothing and calm. however, i do love christian rockbands such as jars of clay, switchfoot, delirious etc and if that's one of the factors that draw people to Him than it's all good.
i'm not a strong believer and i don't try to force my religion on anyone (cos i would have hated to be evangelized, but as tough as religion seems to be.. i think it's good that one lies his faith in the One.
just my humble opinion!
the human race is constantly trying to reinvent itself, trying to find something new to distract itself with. and that might be what caused the introduction of these new Metal Masses.
at the end of the day, we must remember the focus of what we are doing. in speaking to another person, we must weary of the words we use, even if the intended message is good, for a wrong choice of words may affect the perception of the other party.
however, we are now talking to God. in such a case, the words used, be it hymn singing with a choir or heavy metal, may not be the most important thing. the important thing is to remember what God wants us to do: to lead our life conscientiously.
being brought up listening to hymms in church have made me some sort of uneasy with metal music and church.
however, if i were to be brought up listening to metal in church. i would definitely fly down to finland to attend the service there.
so it just boils down to what kind of environment one is brought up in. i wouldn't be surprised if churches in the future are installed with amplifliers instead of pipe organs.
yeah i personally am not a heavy metal kind of person. to me its just NOISE NOISE and more NOISE. i get especially annoyed when people blast their music on their headphones to share their joy with others around them in the lift. maybe the form of music used in this christian church may seem inappropriate but i feel that religion is very personal and everyone have their ways of worshipping god. so i respect their decisions
My perception is that metal music should not be correlated to this church thingy. Let it remain as a culture of its own this way to avoid any conflict of interests. I dont see the point in hearing any loud, adrenaline music in any churches, it defeat the purpose of been termed as churches, which "creates" hymms that makes people sleepy, drowsy etc.
in a nutshell, lure those kids away from churches to heavy metal festivals and skip church, and not to attend churches at the risk of wasting their time, going there for the wrong reason.
besides, metal music aint noise. it just the perception. metal music is described as artistic, symphonic as well. try to on your boyband mp3s at the highest volume and see if it's loud. you know what i mean.
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