Organizers of a heavy metal rock festival in the Netherlands have been granted a permit for an open-air concert this summer on one condition: no cursing.
The Elsrock festival caused an uproar last year when it was held for the first time outside the small, heavily religious town of Rijssen, 120km east of Amsterdam — in an area known as the Dutch Bible Belt.
Two religious political parties complained that heavy metal "is typified by lyrics about death and decay, and vocals that change between a hellish wail and deep grunts."
Churches protesting at a concert this year were pacified only by "the stated readiness of the organizers to make sure that no blasphemous words are used, and that the honor of God's name is not besmirched," Mayor Bort Koelewijn wrote in a letter granting the permit.
"Should there in practice be any blasphemy, I'll ask the district attorney to prosecute."
Town spokeswoman Susanne Plomp said the concert was scheduled for Aug. 25, and as many as 1,200 people were expected to attend.
One of the concert's organizers, who declined to be named in this article, said the bands invited were not known for Satan-worshipping lyrics and would be instructed to "keep it cool" during the concert.
"But that someone might swear somewhere on the concert grounds — you can't prevent that. It's not realistic in this day and age," he said. He said a church delegation last year had come and "found out the music was not their cup of tea" but agreed the event was well-run.
The lineup so far includes several Dutch bands and one Brazilian band, Thessera.
(AP)
荷蘭重金屬搖滾音樂節的籌辦單位已獲
准在今年夏天舉辦露天音樂會，但有個條件︰不准說髒話。
去年在宗教氣息濃厚的瑞森小鎮外首次
舉辦的艾斯洛可音樂會引起了軒然大波。
瑞森鎮位於阿姆斯特丹以東一百二十公里處，人稱「荷蘭聖經帶」一區。
1. heavy metal n. phr.
重金屬 (zhong4 jin1 shu3)
例: I have been to a few heavy metal concerts, but I can't easily make out the lyrics.
(我去過幾場重金屬音樂會，但是聽不太清楚歌詞內容。)
2. Bible Belt n. phr.
聖經地帶 (sheng4 jing1 di4 dai4)
例: The American Bible Belt stretches from Texas to the Carolinas.
(美國的聖經地帶從德州一路延伸至南、北卡羅萊納州。)
3. blasphemous adj.
褻瀆的 (xie4 du2 de5)
例: Do not use blasphemous language at church!
(別在教會使用褻瀆的言語。)
4. Satan n.
撒旦 (sa1 dan4)
例: I read a passage in the Bible about Satan the other day.
(我前幾天在聖經讀到一段有關撒旦的章節。)
兩個宗教政治黨派抱怨，重金屬音樂「
的典型歌詞都與死亡和敗壞有關，歌聲不是鬼吼鬼叫，就是低沉哀號」。
市長波特．科艾路維金在同意書中表示
，今年抗議演唱會的教會在「承辦單位表示願意確保樂團不使用褻瀆的字眼，不糟蹋上帝榮耀的聖名」後才息怒。
他還表示︰「若有任何褻瀆的言行，我
都將要求地方檢察官偵辦 。」
瑞森鎮女發言人蘇珊．普羅姆表示，
演唱會日期預定在八月二十五日，屆時預計將有多達一千兩百名民眾共襄盛舉。
一名拒絕透露姓名的演唱會籌備人表示
，受邀的樂團並非以崇拜撒旦的歌詞著稱，並且會依照指示在演唱會上「照規矩來」。
他說︰「只是有人可能會在演唱會場上說髒話—你無法避免這種事發生，現在要這樣太不切實際了。」他表示去年一群教會代表來此，「發現這種音樂不合他們胃口」，但是同意演唱會籌備完善。
目前樂團陣容包括幾個荷蘭樂團和一個
巴西樂團「泰賽拉」。
（美聯社╱翻譯︰鄭湘儀）
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