The Hardcore side of things

Hardcore punk originated in the late 1970s. It's usually faster and heavier than regular punk rock. It spanned the straight edge movement and its associated submovements, hardline and youth crew.

http://punkmusic.about.com/od/punktionary/g/straightedge.htm
http://www.dictionaryupdate.com/Hardline
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Youth_crew

Hardcore influenced other music genres like alternative rock, alternative metal, metal core  thrash metal, emo, and post-hardcore. It started in the underground scenes across the US in the early 1980s. The most popular places being Washington, California, New York, New Jersey, Boston, Canada and the UK. Traditional hardcore has never reached mainstream commercial success, but an exception would have to be Black Flag's album Damaged: it was included in Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2003. 

Return to that One-ness

Ndonsa was in a hardcore band for over 2 years. It's funny that somebody with such a traditional Zulu background has an interest in the hardcore scene. I've gathered much from what Ndonsa has told me about the genre itself, but there is something deeper with this genre that drives him forward and always makes him "discover things about himself when performing hardcore that he never knew before." Ndonsa tells me other people see it as loud, abrasive music, but to him it's a channel through which he can transport his alter ego and "feel the one-ness we all felt when we were still children." From a young age Ndonsa would play on his teacher's piano at school whenever he got the chance. He never had the money to buy his own, so he would beg his teacher to let him stay in after school. Ndonsa taught himself how to play and he says he was happiest when his teacher would leave him in this classroom after everybody was let out for recess. He was at peace knowing that he could play whatever he wanted and experiment in whatever way he chose because there was nobody around to criticize him like his parents would. His parents never wanted him to become a musician. They said to him, "Art is a hobby. It isn't a breadwinner. Wake up and make good money. You're not going to make money playing your silly piano." That cut Ndonsa, but he knew what made him feel closer to the rhythms of life: playing keys to sick drum beats.