The Beautiful End Of Voice Of Baceprot Struggle Against Sabu

Voice of Baceprot met a tough challenge when it first started in the music world, especially from a conservative environment. (Instagram/@voiceofbaceprot)

JAKARTA Three virgins from Garut, West Java, were nervous when they learned that they were invited to appear at the Glastonbury Festival. After facing various obstacles as a women's metal band, their hard work so far has finally paid off.

Voice of Baceprot, consisting of Firda Marsya Kurnia, Euis Siti and Widi Rahmawati, made history as the first Indonesian band to appear Glastonbury, the biggest music festival in Europe. Although they were nervous when they found out they were invited to appear at the five-day festival, Voice of Baceprot's appearance succeeded in entertaining the audience on the Woodisies stage.

"Being an Indonesian band playing at the Glastonbury Festival, became the band that opened the Woodsies stage that day, became a hijab band that played there, or whatever the person called, we remained who we were and nothing could change that. Baceprot tell die!" wrote Voice of Baceprot on their Instagram account.

They got this invitation after a musical journey that was not easy. With three hijab women, Voice of Baceprot is often underestimated. They are considered dissidents and contrary to Islamic teachings.

The Glastonbury Festival is a five-day contemporary performing arts festival that takes place near Pilton, Somerset. In addition to contemporary music, this festival hosts dances, comedy, theaters, circuses, cabarets, and other arts.

Indonesian Muslim metalheads with headscarves and heavy, heavy guitars dropping into some exotic melodies.

This is how the official Glastonbury Festival pages depict Voice of Baceprot. They appeared as the opening band on June 27, 2024 on the Woodsies stage. Meanwhile, the highlight at this year's festival included Dua Lipa and Coldplay.

Voice of Baceprot plays some of their song numbers including God, Allow Me (Please) to Play Music.

As mentioned earlier, Voice of Baceprot's journey in the country's music scene met various obstacles until they finally hypnotized the Glastonbury Festival audience.

Marsya and Siti have been friends since elementary school, and both have grown up in Singajaya, Garut.

During junior high school, they met Widi. But who would have thought, the beginning of their meeting took place at the school's teacher's office. The three of them are often called supervisors because they are often considered rebels.

But that's where they started listening to metal songs, precisely from the laptop of the supervisory teacher who is familiarly called Abah Ersa.

Abah Esra also encouraged these three students to express their emotions through music.

"Initially it only distributed emotions. Because we realized that we were angry, protested, it would be a problem. We were accused of being radical," said Marsya.

"In the village, women who are loud are definitely called crazy," he continued.

Long story short, these three young girls started performing at local music festivals and uploaded their action on Facebook, where they started getting attention. Voice of Baceprot also covered metal songs and received positive comments.

In 2018, Voice of Baceprot released their first single titled School Revolution. Unexpectedly, the song went viral on social media.

But apparently many people are worried about the existence of Voice of Baceprot. Not only came from the community, but also their closest family, who doubted the future of Voice of Baceprot. Marsya's parents forbade him to play music.

Meanwhile, Widi's older sister did not want her sister to appear at the music festival because she was considered only to 'disrupt the future'. Siti's family did the same thing, which said her musical career was not serious.

In Garut, where the majority of the people are Muslim, there is no positive response when Voice of Baceprot plays metal music. Marsya was even thrown with stones while asking her to stop making 'demon music'.

About 87 percent of Indonesia's population is Muslim. West Java is among the provinces where most of its population adheres to Islam more conservatively. One form prohibits music and singing.

So you can imagine what their views will be when they find a combination of hijab women and heavy metal music.

"Even some people say I have to open the hijab because our music doesn't reflect Muslims. But this is something different," said Marsya.

"Metal is just a music genre. I wear the hijab because this is my identity as a Muslim. It's not that I want to find a sensation," Marysa said when interviewed in 2018.

In 2021, they released singleGod, Allow Me (Please) to Play Music, which was inspired by the criticism they received.

In the refractive section it reads, "I'm not the criminal, I'm not the entity, I just need to sing a song to show my soul... God, let me, please, to play music."

The band also expressed their anxiety about patriarchy and the views of men, a challenge they still face as female musicians, into a song titled (Not) Public Property.

Our body is not public property, we have no place for the dirty mind. Our body is not public property, we have no place for the sexist mind.

"It's sad when what people see isn't our music and the effort we're doing. It's really annoying," concluded Marsya.

Indonesia itself is no stranger to metal music. President Joko Widodo is even known as a fan of Metallica and Megadeth. Indonesia also hosts the Hammersonic Festival, the largest metal music festival in Southeast Asia.

Hikmawan Indra Saefullah, guitarist for the indie band Alone at Last from 2022-2013 and a lecturer at the Indonesia University of New England, said that the existence and achievement of Voice of Baceprot should be appreciated.

Music rock in Indonesia has a long history and its legendary bands and musicians. Unfortunately, in general, this is dominated by male bands and musicians and few female players, even though in the 1960s and 70s we had legendary rock bands, all of which were women, Dara Puspita," Hikmawan told Al Jazeera.

That's why Hikmawan calls Voice of Baceprot the new generation of Indonesian rock music.

They started their careers from below, and developed dynamically. The appearance of those wearing the hijab doesn't stop them from continuing to play rock and metal music, although many people criticize, especially from conservative environments," he explained.