By Manasi Nene
Originally published on 15 June 2017.
If you think you can take it, then get ready for Voice of Baceprot. Founded by three Indonesian schoolgirls – Firdda Kurnia (vocals, guitar), Eusi Siti Aisyah (drums) and Widi Rahmawati (bass) – in 2014, they discovered their love for metal while going through their schoolteacher’s music collection.
Drawing inspiration from Rage Against The Machine, Slipknot and Lamb of God, they have already become social media sensations around the world. And they are tight. The abbreviation of their band name – VoB – also means “noise” in their local language, Sundanese.
Dressed in t-shirts and jeans (typical metal uniform) and hijabs (not-so-typical), they recently travelled four hours from their hometown of Garut to play on national television. They have managed to ruffle some feathers in Indonesia – they’ve had their share of hate mail and death threats – but they remain proud of their music. “We can play metal and protect our morals. Of course Islam and metal can match,” Kurnia told The Guardian. “Metal is just a genre of music. The problem is it is often associated with bad things, but it doesn’t have to be,” she adds.
With titles like The Enemy of Earth Is You, The Sound of Students’ Soul and School Revolution, these aren’t your average schoolgirls. In fact, as their covers of Toxicity (by System of a Down) and Psychosocial (by Slipknot) have shown, their musicianship has absolutely nothing to do with their age or gender. Their songs tackle issues like religious freedom, the state of the environment and systems of education; and we’re rooting for them.