Who is Voice of Baceprot, the Indonesian hijab heavy metal band playing at Glastonbury?

An all-female Indonesian heavy metal band is set to make waves as one of the most hotly anticipated acts at Glastonbury this week.

The gigantic British festival once again has what it takes to become one of the biggest music events of the summer.

Voice of Baceprot, the word meaning “noise” in Sundanese, will kick off the festivities on the Woodsies Stage on Friday morning. And judging by their swagger and venomous riffs, the hijab-wearing band members are likely to leave the stage with a new legion of fans.

They will be the first Indonesian band to play at Glastonbury. They will showcase an inspiring story and uncompromising music and values. Here’s what we know about Voice of Baceprot.

The beginnings

Formed in 2014 in Garut, a city in the Indonesian province of West Java, the trio consists of lead guitarist and vocalist Marsya, drummer Sitti and bassist Widi Rahmawati. All three have no academic inclinations, but took a creative arts program in high school that allowed them to try their hand at theater and music.

It was after the discovery of the 2001 hit song toxicity by the Armenian-American band System of a Down on a teacher’s laptop that they expressed an interest in learning heavy metal. Soon their music evolved from shallow pop interpretations to spirited covers of Rage Against the Machine and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers.

The breakthrough

After Voice of Baceprot attracted attention with performances at high school and band competitions, the team was signed by an Indonesian talent agency in 2018 and released their debut single School revolution.

A defiant calling card with screaming and trashy riffs, frenetic drums and punky vocals. The lyrics rail against the rigid Indonesian education system. “It’s been called the most beautiful prison, but it doesn’t provide any evidence,” Marsya sings. “Just a bunch of rules without any implementation, leaving behind a forgotten history. Don’t try to judge us now.”

With the music video, which was shot in an abandoned warehouse and caused a stir at home and abroad, Voice of Baceprot also caught the attention of some of their heroes: Guns N’Roses guitarist Slash, Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea and Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello paid tribute to their efforts.

Morello expressed his admiration for the band in a 2022 online interview with Voice of Baceprot, uploaded to YouTube. “I heard one of your songs on Twitter. It was a video clip that I watched ten times in a row and it just blew me away,” Morello said. “It’s a great, wild band of young women from far away.”

Go international

With so much goodwill from music greats, it was only a matter of time before Voice of Baceprot would fulfill their promise. The 2021 single God, please allow me to play musicwhose wistful and dramatic vocals are reminiscent of System a Down singer Serj Tankian, is a powerful appeal for understanding to her conservative critics.

Last year’s debut album Rastais a compilation of their old and new material, including the new song What is the saint (Nobel Prize) today?

With their historic performance at Glastonbury on Friday, two days after an intimate warm-up concert in London on Wednesday, the band’s reputation already seems assured.

“We get a lot of messages like this, especially from girls,” Sitti told the rock magazine Kerrang. “They say that before they knew us, they were afraid to make music, but when VOB became a little popular, they had the courage to start a band themselves.”

Updated: June 25, 2024, 07:22