Metal on the margins: cultural hybridity in heavy metal

HIBRIDAÇÃO CULTURAL NO HEAVY METAL

Abstract

The article analyzes the phenomenon of glocal heavy metal, that is, how bands from outside the Anglo-American axis reinterpret the genre through cultural hybridisms. This qualitative research, based on a literature review and case studies, examines seven bands: Angra and Sepultura (Brazil), The Hu (Mongolia), Orphaned Land (Israel), Myrath (Tunisia), Cemican (Mexico), and Bloodywood (India). These bands incorporate local cultural elements such as instruments, scales, languages, and symbols into the conventions of global metal, creating hybrid expressions marked by dual belonging. The analysis draws on concepts such as cultural hybridity (Canclini), cultural translation (Bhabha), glocalization (Robertson, Kraidy), and situated performance (Stokes), enabling an understanding of how metal becomes a vehicle for cultural identity and social critique. The article also discusses tensions related to authenticity, exoticization, and cultural appropriation, arguing that such practices are negotiated within power dynamics. As heavy metal is reinterpreted locally, it transcends dichotomies between center and periphery, original and copy, fostering multidirectional cultural flows and expanding the aesthetic and identity horizons of the genre. The article concludes that glocal metal reconfigures, but does not dissolve, cultural hierarchies, representing both an act of empowerment and a negotiation with the power structures that shape global visibility.