Like being human itself, good music has many elements. It can also offer anti-establishment anthems and moments of heart-wrenching beauty. It can be a voice of war or an agent of peace. It can stir up feelings of giddy joy or heart-breaking sadness within us. But when it comes to good music, one thing remains the same. Music provides insight into what it means to be human and in doing so connects us to each other.
Connection is central to the mission of Demogoroth Satanum, South Africa's first all-black black metal band. They want to connect black fans to a new type of music and white fans to the city's 99% black population. Most of all, they want to connect people to their favorite genres without having to worry about which races have historically played that music or where it has historically been played. .
“We're moving into a 'whites only' kind of scene,” says the band's vocalist Thembiso Kunene (aka Tyrant). “It was tough to perform the first time and it was terrible. Will they take us seriously?”
In a country with a long and painful history of racism, the black metal scene felt particularly restrictive to the members of Demogorous Santhanam. But that's another thing about music. Music is always ready to break with staid traditions, especially when history feels decrepit and backward. In order to bring their sound to a new audience, the band started a series of showcases called “Punk Fuck” in the heart of their hometown.
“We're trying to get more black people involved by playing here,” Tyrant continued. “We thought, 'Fuck it, we're tired of going out.'
The concept of opening up black metal to Soweto's black population is an exciting one, both musically and culturally, but Demogorous Santhanam has bigger goals.
“We're trying to get more white people to come to Soweto,” Tyrant says. “There's a very, very strange scene in Soweto. Apartheid seems like it was only 20 years ago. So there's a lot of tension and we're trying to break that damn tension. Once our country breaks down racial tensions, we can move forward.”
Movement is implicit in music, whether it's dancing or fingers along the frets of a guitar, and the movement inspired by Demogorus Santanum has succeeded in bringing people together and creating change. doing.