Stop making the devil’s music
Dominic Bliss meets the all-female hijab-wearing heavy metal band, Voice of Baceprot, who have caused outrage among conservatives in Indonesia
When Voice of Baceprot first started out, the trio knew the conservative Muslims in their home village disapproved of girls playing heavy metal music. But they had no idea just how much. Until, one day, while walking in the street, lead singer Marsya was suddenly struck on the head by a rock. Attached to the missile was a note with the message: ‘Stop making the devil’s music!’
“To this day we don’t know who the perpetrator was and why that person did it,” Marsya says, still disturbed by the incident.
As an all-female metal band in Muslim Indonesia, Voice of Baceprot, or VOB, as they abbreviate it, have always courted a certain amount of controversy. Yes, they have thousands of fans — as their summer 2024 appearance at Glastonbury Festival and their massive social media following proves — but they must also deal with the haters. “It all stems from ignorance and misunderstanding about the music we play,” Marsya explains to Companion magazine. “Metal may be popular in Indonesia, but not here, in our village. So we feel our music must also play a role in clearing up all these misunderstandings and breaking the chain of intolerance.”
Twenty-four-year-old Firda ‘Marsya’ Kurnia sings vocals for the band and plays lead guitar, while Widi Rahmawati, also 24, plays bass and Euis Siti Aisah, 23, plays drums. Pronounced ‘bah-che-prot’, the band’s name means ‘noisy’ in their native language Sundanese. They perform in a mixture of Sundanese, English and Indonesian. In 2018 they released their first single, School Revolution, and in 2023 their debut album, Retas (which roughly translates as ‘breaking something open’), came out, much to the delight of fans.
Their tight, well-crafted and melodic (by heavy metal standards) songs protest against patriarchy, sexism, war and environmental damage. On their 2021 single God, Allow Me (Please) to Play Music, for example, they sing, “I’m not the criminal, I’m not the enemy. I just wanna sing a song to show my soul. God, allow me please to play music.” Their follow-up single has the message, “Our body is not public property. We have no place for the dirty mind. We have no place for the sexist mind.” Two songs from 2023 — What’s The Holy (Nobel) Today and The Enemy of Earth is You — are blunt outbursts against the evils of war and ecological irresponsibility.
“We care about what happens around us, and we hope our listeners do, too,” says Marsya. “This world never lacks smart people but we don’t have enough people who live with empathy for each other. We are all here to grow each other’s dreams.”
The band first formed a decade ago when the three girls were studying drama in high school in Singajaya, a village 150 miles or so southeast of the Indonesian capital Jakarta. With no acting skills, they were encouraged to take up musical instruments instead, providing the accompaniment to the school plays. It turns out their teacher was a heavy metal fan and, after discovering tracks on his laptop, the three girls quickly fell in love with the genre.
Many of their teachers were less supportive and criticised their ‘rebellious behaviour’, a reputation not helped by their love of loud music. “We were just told to get good grades, memorise, write, flip the books, that’s it,” Marsya remembers. “This was our daily routine for 12 years. We were bored. Then, there was music. It was something new. We let our anger flow through our music because we don’t want to get into trouble by getting angry with others.” Siti adds “More religious people would say, ‘You are going to hell because music is haram (forbidden by Islamic law).”
After touring Europe and the United States, the hijab-wearing trio came to the attention of some very famous musicians in their chosen genre, including Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers and Tom Morello from Rage Against the Machine. When Guns N’ Roses performed in Jakarta in 2018, guitarist Slash invited VOB backstage to talk music and hang out.
Nowadays, all three have moved to their regional capital, Garut, where they live close to each other, regularly practising in a studio they built together. Their career has no doubt been boosted by a strong appetite for heavy metal in their native Indonesia. Jakarta is after all home to Asia’s biggest metal festival, Hammersonic, which has seen the likes of Slipknot, Megadeth and Cradle of Filth headlining. Another festival called Rock in Solo takes place annually in Surakarta, with no shortage of European and North American death metal acts keen to attend.
Even Indonesia’s former president Joko Widodo is a huge fan of the genre. In 2013, before taking office, he sang at a Jakarta concert where British band Arkarna were performing. More than once, he’s been spotted making the devil’s horns heavy metal hand gesture, or wearing a t-shirt with British metal band Napalm Death emblazoned on the front. He was once given a collectible box set of vinyl records by US metal giants Metallica.
VOB appreciate their former leader’s taste in music. “At least it helps popularise metal music and makes it more common among ordinary people, especially those who find it difficult to get permission [to attend] metal gigs,” Marsya says.
Heavy metal fans in Indonesia, however, are culturally very different to those in Europe and North America. Not for them the old rock clichés of devil worship, hard partying and macho posturing. In this part of the world they’re likely to be teetotal, celibate and more respectful of the authorities.
Nonetheless, as females wearing hijabs, VOB will always stand out. “Sometimes we feel like aliens because wherever we go, people are always watching us,” Marsya says. “It’s uncomfortable for us.”
Hopefully, though, no one will feel the need to throw rocks.
