BMTH live in Jakarta 2024
This time around Ravel gets it right and BMTH (Bring Me The Horizon) are headlining the Nexfest festival in Jakarta which also features Babymetal. In this format there is no seating - which makes for a much more intimate experience - although you do have to arrive really early if you want to pick a spot right up close to the stage. We arrived about six hours before BMTH were scheduled to start their performance and bought plenty of drinks to stay hydrated in the tropical afternoon heat (mind you, some of those were Iceland vodka mix!) This was a gig I had long been looking forward to - especially after the debacle last year. Not everyone likes BMTH of course. For deathcore fans the band sold out. For metal heads the band is not purist enough. And for the wider mainstream audience, the band is too heavy. You can't please everyone of course but there are few bands in the rock world which can match the sheer emotional velocity of BMTH. To bring metal and even aspects of metalcore t
While I certainly feel that non-Muslims in Malaysia have the right to call their deity anything they want, as a Malaysian I have to say that in this country the word Allah generally means the Muslim one, regardless of the word's historical origin.
ReplyDeleteThis means while I agree with the freedom of speech principle that anyone can use the word, I also agree with the Muslims that choosing this particular word to use is a deliberately provocative act that is ultimately meant to confuse Muslims. Remember, conflating deities and religious concepts is a time-worn trick from the missionary's playbook.
Considering that it is illegal in Malaysia to proselytize other religions to Muslims and that it is generally impossible for Malays to legally convert to another religion, I can't see how this can end in anything but tears if the Roman Catholics insist on calling their deity "Allah", no matter how much the "right" is on their side.
As for copyrighting deity names, hey, it's a good thing that H.P. Lovecraft's works are in the public domain now, or else how are we Cthulhu-cultists going to cope?