From National Public Radio
The Indonesian metal group Voice of Baceprot is one noisy band. In fact, the band’s name literally means “noisy” in the ethnic Sundanese language the three members speak. They all hail from a rural, conservative part of Indonesia — West Java — about five hours southeast of the capital of Jakarta. But it isn’t just the band’s loud music that’s attracting attention: Voice of Baceprot has also entered the spotlight for breaking the mold of a typical metal band.
For starters: The band is made up entirely of teenage schoolgirls. Vocalist and guitarist Firdda Kurnia, drummer Eusi Siti Aisyah and bassist Widi Rahmawati, who formed the band in 2014, are all daughters of local farmers. They grew up poor and attend one of the many madrasas, or Muslim schools, in the area. It was there that the three were introduced to metal music by their middle school guidance counselor, Ahba Erza.
“I don’t know why the girls love the metal bands,” says Erza, who taught the girls the instruments and would go on to become their band manager. Before Erza, the members of Voice of Baceprot didn’t even know what metal was, but the genre has now become a way of life for them. “I found myself in the metal music,” says Kurnia, 17.
The band’s music is inspired by the likes of metal music legends such as Slipknot, Lamb of God and Rage Against The Machine. As the band’s popularity continues to grow, Voice of Baceprot is fast becoming part of a thriving underground metal scene in Indonesia, which has fans in some of the highest places: Indonesian President Joko Widodo is known for being a huge metalhead.
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