The drummer banged her cymbals. The bassist scratched her guitar. The crowd raised their index and little fingers. The singer and guitarist stepped forward and shouted, “Our body is not public property!” AND Dozens of fans were thrown into a frenzy over the hijab-sporting heavy metal trio.
“We have no place for the sexist mind,” screeched singer Firda Kurnia, singing the chorus of one of the band’s most successful songs, “(Not) Public Property,” at a performance in Jakarta, the Indonesian capital.
Almost a decade after their debut, the band Voice of Baceprot (which means “noise” in Sundanese, one of the languages spoken in Indonesia), has gained followers in the country with songs with themes such as female empowerment, pacifism and environmentalism. Now he’s gaining fans overseas, receiving praise from Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine. In the past year, the band — whose lyrics mix English, Indonesian and Sundanese — has played in the United States, France and the Netherlands.
The heavy metal scene is very much established here (Jakarta is home to Hammersonic, Southeast Asia’s largest annual metal festival), even if this is the only band that wears hijabs. Its members are practicing Muslims in their early 20s. With songs that break stereotypes, they have become role models for many young women.
Still, the group has critics. Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation, has always treasured its secular identity, but in recent years parts of the archipelago have adopted a more conservative interpretation of Islam.
The band members—Firda, who calls herself Marsya; the drummer, Euis Siti Aisyah, known as Sitti; and Widi Rahmawati, the bassist—were born in Garut, a conservative part of West Java province. They met at an Islamic school, where they were “troublemakers.”
In 2014, they were sent to receive guidance from Cep Ersa Eka Susila Satia, a teacher who tried to introduce them to theater. But “they were terrible at acting,” she said. She had them join a group that dabbled in pop music. One day, the girls asked to borrow Ersa’s laptop and found her playlist. They played “Toxicity,” by the Armenian-American metal band System of a Down, and they were hooked.
They began covering popular metal songs and posting videos online. Wendi Putranto, manager of Seringai, a big Indonesian metal band, recalled being “blown away.”
“It’s very brave that they play this kind of music,” Wendi said. “They show people that yes, we are women, yes, we wear hijab and yes, we are Muslims who play heavy metal. And?”.
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