Musical Socialization: Chapter Four, Experiences of a Zimbabwean Metalhead

Contrary to popular belief, most countries in Africa are not stuck in the dark ages but are equipped with modern infrastructures, better than average educational systems and modes of transport that do not require the use of local wildlife. Although the economy has since taken a significant downturn with high inflation rates, limited employment and a rampant increase in corruption, while I resided in the country it was a striving, economically stable place with better living standards than most of its European counterparts. While there was no shortage of life’s amenities, when it came to entertainment, there was never any form of infrastructure that catered to Metal or music normally associated with counter culture.

Although genre specific publications and the occasional piece of Metal associated attire could be found at flea markets strewn across the city, when it came to finding music, existing record stores predominantly stocked only chart orientated albums by internationally recognisable artists such as Van Halen or Iron Maiden.

While these bands were a good introduction for the uninitiated, those that were seeking something more specific had to look for different means to find what they were after as the internet was not yet available and access to satellite equipment was limited to those who could afford it.

Aided by tape trading and the availability of recording devices such as cassette decks or video recorders, those that were interested in receiving the latest releases did so through contacts from overseas. Copying and distributing what they had acquired among acquaintances who would in turn pass them onto others, by the time I began to immerse myself with music, genres such as Metal, punk or hardcore, were already available for those interested enough to find them.

After initially getting introduced to the music through bands like Def Leppard and Megadeth, I soon began expanding my knowledge of various artists and genres with the help of the previously described methods while simultaneously discovering new bands from the emerging Alternative Metal, Crossover and Industrial scenes.

After a lengthy process of elimination during which I solidified my musical preferences, I gradually began looking for clubs and venues where any form of Metal was being played and where likeminded individuals could be found. Without any infrastructure in place to support it, this was however easier said than done as no Metal scene such as they had in South Africa or Kenya existed.

After a couple of years, during which I managed to keep up to date with all the latest genre news, trends and releases by acquiring Metal specific publications such as Rock Hard from Germany or the English version of Metal Hammer, I eventually came across a group of Metal shirt wearing delinquents that I encountered loitering around the inner city college I was attending. After discovering that they shared my affinity for some of the same artists, we soon became friends over our mutual interest for such bands as Pantera, Fear Factory or Machine Head.

Whereas I was previously left to my own devices when it came to discovering new music, interacting with my new acquaintances not only opened my eyes to different perspectives, ideas and musical preferences but also to new genres and bands like Faith No More or Nine Inch Nails, that I would have otherwise never have discovered or listened to.

Realizing that the diversity of our musical tastes differentiated us from some sections of the international Metal community and their sometimes dogmatic regulations, we were freed from any of its constraints or the watchful eyes of its self appointed gatekeepers. This allowed us to listen to anything ranging from the current crop of still popular Grunge bands of the time like Alice In Chains or Soundgarden right through to more traditional bands such as Judas Priest or Iron Maiden.

Believing that this separated us from our European and American counterparts, the idea began to form in our minds of establishing a scene of our own where nationality or personal musical tastes were irrelevant as long as they were rooted in some form of Metal denomination.

As we started to set out our ideas, we began to look for appropriate places from which to stage a weekly Alternative and Metal type event where friends and other likeminded individuals could gather and listen to the music they preferred.

Having secured our base of operations, by managing to find a suitable enough venue that allowed us to stage afternoon events instead of the usual highly coveted nightly slots, the first get togethers that we organised were all well attended and continued to draw a suitably sized amount of people after their initial inception.

After a few months where fun was had by all, the number began to decline as the novelty of something new wore off. As we pondered our next move we realized that the amount of people we attracted was not as all-inclusive as we had hoped and that in order to interest more people we had to adapt to the environment within which we were operating by attracting a more diverse audience.

Coming up with an idea that was more inclusive of what we were trying to achieve, we began to organise an eclectic style event that incorporated not only rock and metal but also live bands and other forms of music that were usually not as popular or as widely represented as others.

As the clubs that we had previously worked with did not have enough space to set up bands and their equipment we moved proceedings to a small for hire venue in the form of a sports club that we found on the outskirts of one of the capitals more affluent suburbs.

Managing to cover a wider spectrum of seemingly divergent styles our efforts paid off and the event was well attended as well as profitable. Satisfied with what we had achieved we set out to plan further events. However, as is so often the case, nothing ever works out as planned and we soon found ourselves on the lookout for another location after we discovered that some of the concert attendees had been mistreated by a number of the clubs employees.

Not deterred by this setback we intermittently continued to successfully organise similar events for the next few years until a sudden economic downturn began to besiege the country. As the instability continued and the number of attendees declined we were gradually forced to completely shut down proceedings. In addition to these unfortunate but inevitable turn of events, a significant number of our inner circle began to leave in search of greener pastures or to seek their fortunes elsewhere.

As political woes added to the ongoing economic situation, I too had to leave like a number of my friends before and although there have since been various attempts at establishing a Metal and Alternative scene in the twenty years since I have left, they have all failed to materialize. Whether that has been due to some of the same problems that we encountered or if there were other factors involved, I do not know but the fact that even a band such as Zimbabwe’s first internationally recognised Metal Masters in the form of Dividing the elements were not able to get a scene off the ground speaks volumes.

While I suspect that the answer as to why is not only more multifaceted than one might expect but also not too dissimilar to the plight of similar endeavours in other African countries, we nevertheless had a good run during which we not only had a lot of fun but also learned a lot in the process and even though we are now living scattered across all corners of the globe some of the friendships we made and the experiences we had, remain.