The Voice of Baceprot: Indonesia’s female metalheads prepare for Glastonbury | Music News

Medan, Indonesia – Indonesian all-female metal band Voice of Baceprot are worried about their upcoming appearance at Glastonbury in the west of England, but not because they will be playing in front of thousands of people at one of the biggest music festivals in the world.

Instead, they think about the weather and what they might eat.

The trio, consisting of 24-year-old singer and guitarist Firda “Marsya” Kurnia, 24-year-old drummer Euis “Siti” Aisyah and 23-year-old bassist Widi Rahmawati, have never been to the UK before and have been watching YouTube videos of the festival in preparation.

“We heard that it rains a lot in England, and even when it doesn’t rain, it always drizzles,” says Siti with a pained expression.

They are also, she says with a grimace, “worried about the food.”

Voice of Baceprot (VOB), which means “loud” in Sundanese – a language spoken by about 15 percent of Indonesia’s 270 million people – will be the first Indonesian band to perform at Glastonbury, which begins this week.

For Siti, it was the band’s “biggest dream” and a shock when the offer first appeared via email in March.

“We thought we would have to play other, smaller venues first, but we got the gig right away,” Marsya said. “We’re so excited.”

VOB was formed in 2014 in Garut district, a conservative region of West Java province, when the trio joined an extracurricular theater group at school. According to Marsya, their acting was “terrible” and to boost the girls’ spirits, their teacher suggested they try music instead.

At 14, the girls picked up their instruments for the first time and began learning to play. They had never heard metal or rock songs before, but their teacher gave them his laptop and they discovered playlists full of songs by bands like the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the Armenian-American heavy metal group System of a Down.

“That’s when we discovered metal,” said Marysa.

The women began playing at local music festivals and uploading their shows to Facebook, where they quickly gained interest. They also posted cover versions of songs, which also received positive reviews.

In 2018 they released their first single “School Revolution”, which took on an unexpected life of its own thanks to social media.

“In 2019, there were demonstrations all over Indonesia (by students protesting against changes to the penal code), and people uploaded videos of the rallies with our song playing,” Marsya said.

From that point on, the group became synonymous with music that appealed to Indonesian youth and addressed issues such as women’s empowerment, environmental degradation and pacifism – with the trio singing in English, Indonesian and Sundanese.

Flourishing music scene

Heavy metal is no stranger to Indonesia and outgoing President Joko Widodo, better known as Jokowi, is known to be a fan of bands such as Metallica and Megadeth.

The country also hosts the Hammersonic Festival – the largest metal music festival in Southeast Asia.

“The punk and rock scene in Indonesia has been greatly influenced by the developments of the times as it has evolved,” Mikail “Mike” Israfil, lead singer of Indonesian punk band Marjinal, told Al Jazeera.

“Technology and modernity have greatly influenced the shape and development of the scene. The current challenge for artists is to respond to the change themselves. What is interesting is that the punk and rock scene in Indonesia is becoming increasingly open, more conscious of space and form, allowing it to show its quality.”

In this context, says Israfil, “the VOB continues to tear down all classes and boundaries”.

Hikmawan “Indra” Saefullah, who was guitarist for Indonesian indie band Alone at Last from 2002 to 2013 and works as a lecturer in Indonesian studies at the University of New England, told Al Jazeera that “VoB’s existence and achievements deserve recognition.”

“The rock music scene in Indonesia has quite a long history and legendary bands and musicians. Unfortunately, it is generally dominated by male bands and musicians, with few female performers, although we did have a legendary all-female rock band called Dara Puspita in the 1960s and 70s.”

In this sense, Hikmawan described VOB as “the new generation of the Indonesian rock music scene”.

“They started their career from the bottom and developed dynamically. Their appearance with hijab (the Muslim headscarf) did not stop them from continuing to play rock and metal music, although they were criticized for it by many people, especially from conservative circles.”

These “conservative circles” also included the families of the women themselves, who initially reacted hesitantly.

Marysa’s parents forbade her from making music, and when she came home late one evening after a performance at a festival, she discovered that she had been locked out of the house as punishment.

“I had to sit outside for hours before they opened the door,” she says, laughing at the memory.

In Widi’s case, it was her older sister who didn’t want her to attend music festivals, saying that playing metal music would “ruin her future.” This was a view shared by Siti’s family, who dismissed her new music career as a “frivolous hobby.”

But as the band became more and more famous, their families changed their minds.

“When they first saw us on local television, they started supporting us,” Widi said.

‘Moral Responsibility’

The band draws inspiration for their music from their personal experiences and some of their songs are direct responses to the criticism that women shouldn’t play heavy metal.

Marysa’s favorite song is “What’s the Holy (Nobel) today,” which she says is about ignoring haters and “surrendering to a higher power,” while Siti prefers her 2021 hit aptly named “God, Allow Me (Please) To Play Music.”

Before going on stage, the band prays and spends time together as a trio, without outside interruptions. Marysa says this is important “to foster their chemistry as a band” – even if disagreements continue.

When asked if they ever argue, the women burst into giggles. They argue about many things, Marysa says, but usually it’s trivial things, like what they want to eat for dinner.

The women lived together in Jakarta for three years from 2020 to 2023 before splitting from their record label and forming an independent band. When asked what prompted them to make this decision, they answer in typical metal fashion.

“We are too wild and cannot be tamed,” says Widi, laughing.

They are happy to be back in Garut for now, where the weather is cooler and the atmosphere calmer than Jakarta, but independence has also brought its own challenges. They have had to manage their social media themselves, are also setting up a studio in Garut that needs project management, and are also planning a tour of Indonesia after previously touring France, the Netherlands and the United States.

Although they find life in Garut more peaceful in many ways, there is opposition from the conservative regency and online. The women regularly receive threatening letters. Are they afraid that someone might actually harm them?

“I’m very worried that it could happen,” Marysa admitted.

Once, when the singer was on her way home from band practice in Garut, someone threw a stone at her. She stopped going to practice for a week. Siti was also confronted with hate comments online, which mostly took the form of body shaming. Trolls called her “too short and too fat” and commented on her skin.

“They said that as an international musician, I should watch my diet. Then they bullied me about my acne and said that I should have the money to get it treated.”

When this happens, Siti talks to her bandmates about the comments.

“They usually tell me to ignore them and point out that the people making those comments are ugly too,” she said, laughing. “The next day I’ve usually forgotten them.”

Widi said that trolls also like to attack her skills as a bassist.

“They tell me that there are many bass players who are better than me and ask why I even play. I usually tell them that I will keep playing no matter what they say.”

Marysa also points out the blatant sexism in the comments they receive. Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country, has thousands of male rock, punk and metal bands who are never accused of doing anything that is haram, or forbidden, in Islam.

“There are so many male bands in Garut and they never have any problems. It’s so contradictory,” Marsya said.

When asked what the future holds for VOB, Siti has a simple answer.

“When I make music, it makes me happy and I can support myself and my family financially. So this is a very positive thing for me. We will keep playing as long as we can,” she said.

“I will make music until I get fed up,” Marsya added.

For now, however, they are concentrating on Glastonbury and plan to camp during the festival to fully immerse themselves in the atmosphere of Worthy Farm.

They are also busy designing their costumes for the show, which will include traditional fabrics from Garut and Indonesian motifs, including the country’s crimson and white flag.

In the whirlwind of controversy that has always surrounded the trio, the women are aware of the burden that their June 28 performance entails.

“The pressure is great and we feel a moral responsibility,” said Marysa. “It’s not just our name that’s on the stage, but also that of our country.”