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Voice of Baceprot, heart-stealing heavy metal by girls in hijabs
Against stereotype: The Voice of Baceprot (VoB) heavy metal band from the small town of Garut in West Java has stolen the hearts of head-bangers with its music and unique hook
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gainst stereotype: The Voice of Baceprot (VoB) heavy metal band from the small town of Garut in West Java has stolen the hearts of head-bangers with its music and unique hook. (Photo courtesy of Amity Asia)
A friend of yours is playing a YouTube video on her smartphone and all you can hear is a female voice raging to a squealing guitar, backed by heavy metal bass and drums.
Through her lyrics, the singer protests Indonesia’s rigid education system: Sekolah pagi pasti ragaku ini berlari/paksa mimpi yang tak satupun ku mengerti/terlempar kepala dipaksa pintar/terdampar moral digoda
binger (Morning school forces me to run/spoon-feeding me ideas I don’t get/throwing me into pressure to get smart/leaving me confused with a chatter of moral temptations).
Curious about the music you hear, you ask your friend to show you the YouTube clip, without knowing that you are in for a surprise.
The image of three petite girls, all wearing hijabs while playing heavy metal with the intensity of bands like Slayer and Rage Against the Machine (RATM), instantly blows you away.
The is Voice of Baceprot (VoB), a band of three 17-year-old girls: Firda Kurnia on vocals and guitars, Widi Rahmawati on bass and Euis Siti Aisyah on drums.
The three girls from the small town of Garut in West Java have chosen to channel their youthful energy through heavy metal.
Their unique hook as hijab-wearing heavy metal singers has captivated thousands of headbangers. They have been featured in numerous international media outlets, both for their uniqueness and their musical qualities.
VoB has also earned respect from top Indonesian musicians, such as legendary guitarist Dewa Budjana, who considered the girls talented rapid learners.
“I had played music for years — since I was a child — before I eventually started forming a band and learned musical synchronicity,” Budjana said recently on the sidelines of his collaboration performance with VoB at the @America cultural center in Jakarta.
The word baceprot, a word of the local Sundanese language of West Java, means “talkative”.
The band came together in 2014, when the girls were just 13 and studying at the Tsanawiyah Islamic boarding school. Their music teacher and mentor at the time, Abah (mister) Cep Ersa Eka Susila Satia, helped the girls form the heavy metal band.
According to the girls, their parents initially objected to having their daughters play in a heavy metal band, due to the stereotype that musicians are more prone to be tempted to engage in “naughty things”.
Furthermore, they are well aware of the perception of heavy metal as “satanic music”.
The girls, however, stand by their love for heavy metal.
“Metal is just a genre, just like any other musical genres. When individuals are inherently bad, the type of music they play or listen to will not matter,” Firda told The Jakarta Post.
Widi echoed Firda’s sentiment and added that metal was their deepest and most genuine form of expression.
The girls initially found heavy metal through the internet.
“In 2014, when we were still eighth-graders, we scrolled through the playlist on Abah Satia’s laptop. We discovered the track Toxicity from System of A Down, and we felt an instant connection with the music, which represents our chatty personalities,” Firda said.
VoB also credits leftist American band RATM as a source of inspiration.
“The band has no hesitation at all in voicing protest against social injustice,” Firda said.
In a similar vein, VoB’s music also addresses a variety of society’s ills, such as environmental destruction, expressed through its song Rumah Tanah Tidak Dijual (Our Home and Land are Not for Sale), which
criticizes land conversion and gentrification.
Firda said the band was also disgruntled over the religion-based violence and terror taking place in Indonesia.
“We hope we will not inherit anything as horrible as religious conflicts in our future as adults,” Firda said.
Firda, Widi and Siti have definitely reached a lot of milestones as a young band in four years, but the girls are not satisfied yet.
As a heavy metal band, the girls have set their sights on conquering the high point of rock music.
“We want to play in a concert in the United States,” the girls said in unison about their main goals.
