Friday 26 / April / 2024
MUSCAT: Oman has long attracted people of different nationalities, ethnicities, races, religions and backgrounds to its tourist attractions and nature that is rarely seen in other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.
For one, the Sultanate is a perfect venue for holding concerts, considering the vast, clean beaches and isolated mountain tops found in Oman.
Featuring in our #OmanPride campaign today is Omar Zainal, a Bahraini national and co-founder and guitarist of well-renowned extreme heavy metal band Smouldering in Forgotten (SIF), who recently visited the Sultanate and had nothing but praise for the country’s natural wonders and friendly atmosphere. His band has played at several venues in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and will perform for the first time in Cairo, Egypt. They have recently opened for Finnish melodic metal band Insomnium, who themselves have a big following in Europe and the Americas.
“My first visit to Oman was 10 years ago and I must say the Sultanate stands out from the rest of the nearby countries. The beautiful scenery of Oman is very different and the people are the friendliest and nicest I’ve ever met,” said an ecstatic Zainal.
“My recent visit included a two-day camping trip by the beach in Sifah, which was something I had never experienced before and I would love to do that again,” he added.
He also hopes the country will open up to heavy metal music, considering the diverse culture of people living in the Sultanate just as it is in his hometown, Manama and have the opportunity to perform in a show here. “We’d love to play in Oman. I think an outdoor event would be perfect whether on the beach or on top of a mountain,” said Zainal.
He added that it will give first time visitors the chance to camp and experience the beauty of Oman at the same time.
Oman seldom sees live music, especially rock bands, performing in one of the many possible locations within Muscat and surrounding areas.
Misconceptions
A common misconception about heavy metal music is that it is far too extreme and offensive, but a long time Omani rock and heavy metal fan Nasser shot down the delusion saying, “Pop, hip hop and RnB music almost always has drugs, drinking, crime and other illicit content. Metal music talks about real world problems and social issues in addition to just good old fantasy stories.”
“How is our music offensive while it is perfectly fine to sing about such content?” he added.
“People who think that way shouldn’t judge what they don’t understand,” Zainal further said.
Elaborating on the type of music and lyrical themes SIF plays to, Zainal said, “Our topics revolve mainly around fantasy and real world problems written in ways that resemble a destructive and chaotic theme, which reflect the type of music we play. It’s more or less an extreme version of dark poetry.”
The Omani metal community had longed to have their voices heard and many are hoping that one day the country would host the first metal band.
“That’s how all metal scenes started at some point. It starts to grow as long as there are frequent activities and events. This is how we try to keep our scene alive in Bahrain,” he explained.
