The beautiful end of the fight of Voice of Baceprot against Sabu

JAKARTA Three virgins from Garut, West Java, were nervous when they found out they had been invited to the Glastonbury Festival. After overcoming many obstacles as a female metal band, their hard work has finally paid off.

Voice of Baceprot, consisting of Firda Marsya Kurnia, Euis Siti and Widi Rahmawati, made history as the first Indonesian band to perform at Glastonbury, Europe’s biggest music festival. Although they were nervous when they learned they were invited to the five-day festival, Voice of Baceprot managed to entertain the audience on the Woodisies stage.

“As an Indonesian band playing at Glastonbury Festival, as a band opening the Woodsies stage that day, as a hijab band playing there, or whatever people called it, we remained who we were and nothing could change that. Baceprot, tell me!” Voice of Baceprot wrote on their Instagram account.

They received this invitation after a musical journey that was not easy. With three women wearing hijabs, Voice of Baceprot is often underestimated. They are considered dissidents and opponents of Islamic teachings.

The Glastonbury Festival is a five-day contemporary performing arts festival held near Pilton, Somerset. In addition to contemporary music, this festival also features dance, comedy, theatre, circus, cabaret and other arts.

Indonesian Muslim metalheads with headscarves and heavy, hard guitars diving into exotic melodies.

This is how Voice of Baceprot is portrayed on the official pages of the Glastonbury Festival. They performed as the opening act on the Woodsies stage on June 27, 2024. The highlight of this year’s festival, meanwhile, was Dua Lipa and Coldplay.

Voice of Baceprot performs some of their song numbers, including God, Allow Me (Please) to Play Music.

As mentioned above, Voice of Baceprot encountered various obstacles on their way through the country’s music scene until they finally mesmerized the audience at the Glastonbury Festival.

Marsya and Siti have been friends since elementary school and both grew up in Singajaya, Garut.

During middle school they met Widi. But who would have thought that their meeting began in the school’s teachers’ lounge. The three are often referred to as overseers because they are often seen as rebels.

But there they started listening to metal songs from the laptop of the supervising teacher, whose informal name is Abah Ersa.

Abah Esra also encouraged these three students to express their feelings through music.

“At first, only emotions were expressed. Because when we realized that we were angry and protested, we realized that this would be a problem. We were accused of being radical,” says Marsya.

“In the village, women who are loud are definitely considered crazy,” he continued.

In short, these three young girls started performing at local music festivals and uploaded their actions to Facebook, where they attracted attention. Voice of Baceprot also covered metal songs and received positive comments.

In 2018, Voice of Baceprot released their first single titled School Revolution. Unexpectedly, the song went viral on social media.

But apparently many people are worried about the existence of Voice of Baceprot. Not only from the community, but also from his immediate family doubted the future of Voice of Baceprot. Marsya’s parents forbade him from making music.

Widi’s older sister did not want her sister to perform at the music festival because she believed she would only “destroy the future.” Siti’s family did the same, saying her musical career was not to be taken seriously.

In Garut, where the majority of the population is Muslim, there is no positive response when Voice of Baceprot plays metal music. Marsya was even pelted with stones when she was asked to stop playing the “demon music”.

About 87 percent of the Indonesian population is Muslim. West Java is one of the provinces where the majority of the population adheres to a more conservative form of Islam. One form prohibits music and singing.

So you can imagine what they think when they come across a combination of women in hijabs and heavy metal music.

“Some people even say I have to open the hijab because our music does not reflect Muslims. But this is different,” Marsya said.

“Metal is just a genre of music. I wear the hijab because it is my identity as a Muslim. It’s not that I want to stand out,” Marysa said in a 2018 interview.

In 2021, they released the single “God, Allow Me (Please) to Play Music,” which was inspired by the criticism they received.

The breaking section states: “I’m not the criminal, I’m not the creature, I just need to sing a song to show my soul… God please let me play music.”

The band also expressed their fear of patriarchy and men’s views in a song called “(Not) Public Property” – a challenge they still face as female musicians.

Our bodies are not public property; there is no room for dirty thoughts. Our bodies are not public property; there is no room for sexist thoughts.

“It’s sad when what people see is not our music and not the effort we put in. It’s really annoying,” Marsya concluded.

Indonesia itself is no stranger to metal music. President Joko Widodo is even known to be a fan of Metallica and Megadeth. Indonesia also hosts the Hammersonic Festival, the largest metal music festival in Southeast Asia.

Hikmawan Indra Saefullah, guitarist of the indie band Alone at Last from 2022 to 2013 and lecturer at the Indonesia University of New England, said the existence and achievement of Voice of Baceprot should be appreciated.

Rock music in Indonesia has a long history and legendary bands and musicians. Unfortunately, it is generally dominated by male bands and musicians and there are few female players, although we had legendary rock bands in the 1960s and 70s that were all made up of women, Dara Puspita,” Hikmawan told Al Jazeera.

For this reason, Hikmawan describes “Voice of Baceprot” as the new generation of Indonesian rock music.

They started their career from the bottom and developed dynamically. The fact that they wear hijab does not prevent them from continuing to play rock and metal music, although many people, especially from conservative circles, criticize them for it,” he explained.

Tag: Voice of Baceprot Music Glastonbury Festival Rock Garut