Angol
In this rich ethnography, Emma Baulch examines the complex identity politics that played out within Bali's reggae, punk, and death metal subcultures during the 1990s. She takes readers inside each scene: hanging out with the Balinese death-metal band Phobia, among unemployed university graduates clad in black t-shirts and ragged jeans; among young men sporting mohawks, leather jackets, and hefty jackboots, participating in the punk scene with the bands Superman Is Dead and Triple Punk; and among the remnants of the local reggae scene in Kuta Beach, the island's most renowned tourist area. Baulch tracks how each music scene arrived and grew in Bali, looking at the influence of factors including performance venues for amateur bands, the global extreme metal underground, MTV Asia, and the deregulation of Indonesia's media. She analyzes Balinese youth's reasons for participating in each subculture as well as the ways that they asserted each scene's specific character through dance, dress, claims to public spaces, and performance.
