They've been called a "hijab trio," and these three young metalheads in Voice of Baceprot from Indonesia are getting worldwide attention, and now a new documentary.
We talked about Voice of Baceprot in 2017, but they have been busy since then. Based on this roughly translated article, Voice of Baceprot consists of 17-year-old guitarist Firdda Kurnia, 16-year-old bassist Nidi Rahmawati and 17-year-old drummer Euis Siti Aisyah have a new documentary about them being shopped around.
Endonezya'nın muhafazakar bir köyünde, kurdukları metal müzik grubu ile genç kadınlar, ülkenin toplumsal cinsiyet ve dine dayalı kalıplarını alt üst etmeye devam ediyorlar. pic.twitter.com/Kd8cSB2rvU
— KTÜ Kadın Kolektifi (@ktu_ukk) May 3, 2020
The trio only learned about heavy metal in 2014, but clearly it had an impact on them. They found out about it by accidentally hearing it on a music teacher's laptop. Guitarist Firdda Kurnia says “We fell in love when we first heard about metal music. For us, metal is a tool to make our critical voice heard. Metal music matches the determination in our soul. ”
The girls practiced every day and began performing locally. They see their music as a form of resistance and sing about matters that are important to them like the education system, religious tolerance and climate change.
They began receiving countless threats on social media from religious fanatics who saw metal as demonic and thought it was not suitable for women. One night, after leaving a recording session, they were greeted by an attack of stones wrapped in papers with insulting messages. They barely escaped on their bicycles.
Speaking to the South China Morning Post, Kurnia said "They said that I should remove my headscarf. They said it was infidels to wear a headscarf while playing metal music." She says that playing metal music doesn't change how she feels about her Islamic beliefs. "Metal is just a kind of music for us. We do music but we did not stop praying; we continue to wear the headscarf, as we do not leave our other [religious] obligations.”
A documentary is currently on the festival circuit, also called Voice of Baceprot, about the trio of girls. No wide release has yet to be announced.
They even got the attention of Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea recently:
What’s the band called??? https://t.co/6c7xfruIuW
— Flea (@flea333) May 4, 2020
Wow they like the red hots??! Awesome. ❤️❤️❤️ https://t.co/JpAVjm0wrU
— Flea (@flea333) May 4, 2020
The band hopes to travel the world to introduce people to their music. We'd love to hear it.
Of course it should be noted, Indonesian president Joko Widodo is a noted metalhead. Lamb of God's Randy Blythe once joked "finally, a metal president to argue about Slayer record with." In 2017, President Joko was visited by Denmark Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, who clearly did his research and made sure to get the Indonesian president a gift any metalhead would enjoy. Joko was presented with the new Metallica Master of Puppets box set.
