Indonesian turbaned metalheads play at Glastonbury

The three girls started making metal music in high school, but they never imagined they could make history for Indonesia at Glastonbury.

Their band – Voice of Baceprot – will perform at this year’s festival and they were “confused” when they found out they were invited.

“Because we didn’t know how exciting it was [the festival] It’s… we don’t know what to do next,” said the band’s lead singer Firdda Marsya Kurnia.

The pressure was on when the trio realized they would be the first Indonesian band to perform at Europe’s biggest music festival. Headliners at this year’s five-day festival include Coldplay and Dua Lipa.

The Sound of Baceprot, consisting of Marsya, drummer Euis Siti Aisyah and bassist Widi Rahmawati, will perform on Friday. Baceprot (pronounced “bah-che-prot”) means “noise” in Sundanese, one of the most widely spoken languages ​​in Indonesia.

The three women have come a long way since their days at country school a decade ago.

They made international headlines for challenging gender and religious norms and toured internationally, including Europe and the United States.

They have also received praise from bands such as Rage Against the Machine, whose guitarist Tom Morello said he “watched one of their videos 10 times in a row and was blown away by it”. Red Hot Chilli Peppers’ Flea tweeted: “I’m so disappointed in the sound of Baceprot.”

But Glastonbury will be their biggest stage yet.

Marsya, Siti, 24, and Widi, 23, spoke to the BBC a week before their historic gig to talk about their journey since they started playing music together as three restless schoolgirls.

Marsya and Siti grew up in Singajaya, a rural town in Indonesia’s West Java province, and became friends in primary school. They met Vidi in junior high school in the school counselor’s office, where they were frequently cited for “rebellious behavior.”

It was in this unlikely place that their love of heavy metal took root. They develop a friendship with their counselor, Father Elsa.

“We were listening to music from consultant Abah Ersa’s laptop… When we listened to heavy metal music, we would get an adrenaline rush and we thought it would be cool if we could cover these songs,” Siti said.

Elsa said he realized the girls were not as rebellious as other teenagers who might get into drugs or get into trouble. Instead, they often speak out about things they believe are unfair in their schools.

“They were against the system and often clashed with teachers. Their comments were then considered provocative,” he said.

In 2014, Ersa encouraged girls to express their emotions through music. He introduced guitar to Marsya, bass to Widi, and built a makeshift drum for Siti using unwanted parts left over from the school marching band.

“We let our anger flow through our music… because we don’t want to get in trouble for being angry at other people.

“If we protest, there will be problems. We will be accused of being radical. In our village, women who protest are called crazy.

She added that playing music at the time also inspired them to go to school.

“We were just told to get good grades… memorize, write, flip through books, that’s it. This was our daily routine for 12 years. We were bored. Then, there was music. This was the new thing.

The band considers Ersa their founder. He was the first to post their music on YouTube. Today, they have 360,000 subscribers on YouTube and 230,000 followers on Instagram.

But the band and their music also struck a nerve with some people.

Some people in their town, which is mostly conservative Muslim, reacted poorly when they tried heavy metal. At one point, Martha was hit in the head with a rock with a note taped to it telling her to “stop making the devil’s music.”

About 87% of Indonesia’s population is Muslim. West Java is one of the more conservative provinces, which includes sects that ban music and singing.

Some people find the combination of women wearing hijabs and heavy metal music particularly provocative.

“Some people even said I should take off my hijab [as our music] Does not reflect true Muslims. But these are different things. Metal is just one genre of music. I wear the hijab because that’s who I am as a Muslim… It’s not because I want to cause a stir,” Marsya told BBC Bahasa Indonesia in an interview earlier in 2018.

Over the years, Marsya, Siti and Widi won over their families, but not without resistance – Widi’s sister warned her that playing heavy metal would “ruin her future”, while Siti’s family described her music career as “not serious” “.

Even the principal of the Islamic school they attended after junior high school criticized their music. Later the girls dropped out of school.

In 2021, they released the single “God, Allow Me (Please) to Play Music” as an empathetic plea to these critics.

The band composed the tune and Aisha wrote the lyrics. Its chorus goes like this: “I’m not a criminal, I’m not the enemy, I just want to sing a song that shows my soul… God, please allow me to play music.”

The band also put their frustrations with patriarchy and the male gaze into the song “(Not) Public Property” – challenges they still face as female musicians.

The song sings: “Our bodies are not public property, and we have no place for dirty thoughts. Our bodies are not public property, and we have no place for sexist thoughts.”

“It’s disappointing when people notice something other than our music and the hard work we put into it. It’s really irritating,” Marsya said.

That said, the band realizes that being invited to perform at Glastonbury is recognition of their achievements. But it’s also nerve-wracking.

“We thought we were ready to take it until everyone started praising the festival… We were able to enjoy being on stage so much better when people didn’t expect anything from us,” Martha said.

Siti’s tone was more optimistic. “I’m not ready yet, but what the heck, I’m going to pretend I’m the star on stage. You’ll find me often closing my eyes during gigs because I imagine I’m just in the studio jamming with my band .

Part of the group’s mental preparation includes trying “not to overthink how many people are going to see our show,” Siti said. “If I had known the size of the crowd, I don’t think I would have been able to handle it,” she said.

“We are proud of it, but on the other hand, it is also a big responsibility for us because the audience not only sees VoB but also Indonesia,” Marsya said.