Jake Shuker of Syrian death metal band Maysaloon performed in the UK for the very first time on July 6, 2019, at the Imperial War Museum, (IWM) London to coincide with the Rebel Sounds exhibition, which will run until January 5, 2020.
Maysaloon were formed in Damascus in Syria in 2015 (four years after war broke out in the country) but currently reside in Beirut, Lebanon. At the band's first gig, they covered the likes of Death, Obituary, Slayer and Dissection while bombs went off outside.
Speaking to Metal Hammer, Jake explains "You could hear the sound of [makes exploding noise] ‘Boom!’"
An energetic and ambitious frontman, Jake helped to push his band to the forefront of what was left of the Syrian metal scene, gigging as regularly as possible. By 2017, Maysaloon had released their debut album, The Forgotten Dawn, and have the band have now recorded their second album, A Lip To Earth, A Lip To Heaven And A Tongue To The Stars.
After appearing at the inaugural World Metal Congress in London last March, Jake reunited with w\m/c in collaboration with IWM's Culture Under Attack season for this special 'talking gig', where he and concert pianist Aeham Ahmad, gave rare UK performances in short interventions and discussed their experiences as musicians living through the Syrian conflict.
See below to exclusively watch Jake's performance at the IWM.
For more on Maysaloon, pick up the current issue of Metal Hammer or visit Maysaloon's Facebook page. The band appear in the documentary Syrian Metal Is War.
All Rebel Sounds Live events at IWM London are free, but booking is required via IWM’s website.
