Decolonial Metal Music in Latin America
Nelson Varas-Díaz engages in ethnographic work throughout Latin America to explore how heavy metal music is used to challenge the region's colonial past and present. Through extensive research in nine countries, his work documents how this musical genre allows listeners and musicians to engage in what he calls 'extreme decolonial dialogues' that challenge historical and ongoing forms of oppression. 30 b/w illus.
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'As heavy metal is diversifying within a music culture in which active fan participation is crucial in cementing its longevity, these books are not just an excellent read for casual metal fans, but important for present and future heavy music scholars. [...] These books demonstrate not just how the music is produced and performed within non-Western countries, but also how the genre and culture serve to strengthen the global heavy music community.'
Reviewed alongside Living Metal
'Varas-Díaz's masterful book proves that in Latin America, the sonic intensity of metal music fuels an incendiary passion for social justice.'
'Until now, Latin American metal music scholars have not been critical of their field's unequal position vis-à-vis the Global North. In addition to consolidating a starting point for his Latin American colleagues, Varas-Díaz provides a tool for researchers from distant countries to get closer to Latin American realities through a decolonial perspective. The great descriptive richness, product of the author's ethnographic work, allows readers to embark on an imaginary journey through different Latin American metal scenes and listen to the voices and subjective experiences of their metalheads.'
'Decolonial Metal Music in Latin America is truly remarkable in the rigor and scope of its scholarship, while remaining anchored in the poignant, eloquent, and transformative stories that circulate around decolonial metal music in Latin America.'
