Heavy metal band in hijabs: Indonesian band makes history at Glastonbury

JAKARTA: With their Islamic headscarves, socially-conscious lyrics and high-octane metal music, the women of the Indonesian band Voice of Baceprot (VoB) have played stages from the United States to France. But they are nervous about this week.

In England on Friday (June 28), the trio will be the first Indonesian band to play at the Glastonbury Festival, one of the world’s biggest, sharing space with the likes of Coldplay and Shania Twain.

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For VoB, Glastonbury will be their biggest stage yet, far away from their home village in Garut in the West Java province.

“Not only do we carry the name of VoB and its members, but also the name of our country Indonesia,” bassist Widi Rahmawati, 23, told Reuters.

With the brash strums of their guitars and intricate drumming, the Voice of Baceprot – a word meaning “noise” – has made the cover of Britain’s New Musical Express magazine and earned plaudits from former Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello.

The three young women – Widi, vocalist and guitarist Firda Marsya Kurnia, 24, and drummer, Euis Siti Aisyah, 24, – had each been immersed in Indonesian pop music and Islamic music as kids. They met at an Islamic school and formed the band in 2014.

Their love for metal came after they heard the album “Toxicity” by the American band System of a Down. They had listened to it on the computer of their school guidance counsellor, who they said was their biggest supporter. It filled them with an adrenaline rush, Marsya said.

So they started playing music of their own.

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Since then, the three have set out to challenge the stereotypes that Muslim women are demure and weak, or that Muslims in general are violent militants, said Marsya.

The band sings of female empowerment – lamenting a fixation on looks instead of the music – and the environment. The most difficult challenge for Voice of Baceprot was dealing with the stigmas overseas and at home.

“In our village, metal is considered as satanic music — not suitable for women, especially women wearing hijabs like us,” Widi said, referring to the headscarves.

Marsya said her family once suggested that she seek an Islamic healing ritual, hoping to expel her love for metal.

People in a US audience once called them militants, she said. “It was as if we were criminals and terrorists in their eyes.”

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Indonesia is the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation, with Muslims comprising 90 per cent of its 270 million people. The nation is secular and the vast majority practise a moderate form of Islam, although there are some conservative strongholds.

After Glastonbury, Marsya said the three would work on a new album and a song “Mighty Island”, which she said was about corruption in Indonesia. They also want to build a community with aspiring musicians back home, she said.