Brazil is the largest country in South America and is usually known and identified to the world by its beaches, Samba, Bossa Nova and football … but nowadays is also known to have a great metal scene with groups known worldwide as Sepultura, Angra, Krisiun, Hibria and many others.
Despite the headbangers having a dress style considered by many aggressive, we see that among the fans there are people of all areas such as science, technology and education. Ally how to wear, the heavy metal has always been subject to prejudices and judgment from the rest of society. According to the anthropologist Canadian Sam Dunn in the documentary “A Headbanger’s Journey” from 2005, \”the heavy metal confronts what we prefer to ignore. Celebrates what we deny. Confirms what we fear. Heavy metal is a culture of minority that not fits in standard norm.
Definition of a group
To designate this group, we will use the following concepts presented by Barth to designate a community:
1. it shares fundamental cultural values performed as a unit reflected in cultural forms.
2. counts with members who identify themselves and are identified by others and that constitute a distinct category from other categories from the same order.
The headbangers are not a ethnic group but a social group that are gathered by a common denominator in: the music taste. This taste is usually shown in clothing, often with t-shirts of their favorite bands, usually black clothes and prints such as skulls, monsters (zombies, vampires, etc.) and all sorts of metallic ornaments as tacks and spikes. A good part of fans have long hair. Lets make it clear, though this does not mean all headbangers will portray themselves like the ones described before as a general rule in their everyday lives. Some choose to this type of identification only in specific events of the community as concerts, festivals and choose to dress according to their own particular taste during the most or all the time.
Groups as culture bearers
The fact of sharing a common culture is considered central by Barth. Here in we concentrate in the mere cultural distinction of this group, not in ethnic factors because people of all ethnic groups identify themselves and participate in the group. And how was said before, the way in which the participants of the group interact and behave depends of the place where they are , even by having values and tastes alike. Sometimes prejudice happens by the fact that the person does not belong in the group considered as the standard one, makes them to appear more discrete in showing their preferences through clothing and physical traits. Often this is happening with individuals who are entering the labor market or simply have chosen more formal environments to navigate in such as the business or academic worlds. Usually younger fans are more easily identified by their appearance. Nowadays this is already seen as part of a diverse culture in some extent and what matters most is not exactly the appearance but what is made to share the culture of metal and spread the movement in the mainstream media and society. We can see that the metal events of are always very busy and tickets can be sold out many times, with people of all ages in attendance. This makes us think of the following: how can we still consider the metal as really a culture of minority if it, even in a country predominantly accustomed of pop music in general, takes crowds to their events?
Minorities and outcasts
We can explain this fact of metal fans to be considered a minority and be stratified socially by the fact of the social contrast mentioned before about the current Brazilian norm vs. the norm of heavy metal. Exactly why we have fans that decide to \”disguise\” themselves in order to be successful in a life that is not related to heavy metal and events such as shows, nightclubs and music schools. In the world of metal we hardly would see these people as outcasts. The same does not happen for example for the one who chooses to make the heavy metal as their career, either as musician or entrepreneur. Many are seen by the society as outcasts that have not been able to take life seriously and have some success.
Intercultural social exchanges
Although traditionally heavy metal was not linked with genuinely Brazilian rhythms such as Maracatu and Samba, bands like Sepultura and Angra went far beyond their time and decided to incorporate to their music regionalisms and typically Brazilian beats in order to inject culture of their own country in a genre typically seen as foreign. Sepultura even spent a few days with the native tribes in the region of Xingu in Mato Grosso, Brazil, in order to understand their culture. That culminated in album called “Roots”, where we have several songs with indigenous themes and melodies. Angra in their album “Holy Land”, tells about the discovery of Brazil and incorporates not only the history of the country but also several rhythms and beats typically arising from the northeast of Brazil and embracing the African and indigenous heritages.
It is believed that with the globalization and intercultural exchanges with rhythms typically Brazilian and the commercial success of the metal Brazilian bands abroad all has contributed to the cultural evolution of the fan groups, thus, so far decreasing the prejudice and increasing the acceptance of this social-cultural group in our society to be seen just like any other group expressing their culture and identity.
In this article a social group, the headbangers, (fans of heavy metal) in Brazil will be investigated according to the text of Frederik Barth \”Ethnic groups and boundaries \”.
All started in mid 1984 when the heavy metal began to explode in the mainstream scene of Brazil, only one year after the military dictatorship that had lasted almost twenty years came to an end. The largest music festival of Brazil, Rock in Rio, had its first edition with big names of the heavy metal world such as Ozzy Osbourne, Iron Maiden, Scorpions, Queen, among others. The space in the media given to metal bands was huge and soon groups of fans began to appear.
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