\n<\/p>\n
The drummer crashed her cymbals. The bass player clawed at her guitar. The crowd raised index and pinkie fingers in approval. The lead singer and guitarist stepped up to the mic and screamed: \u201cOur body is not public property!\u201d And dozens of fans threw themselves into a frenzy for the hijab-wearing heavy metal trio.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have no place for the sexist mind,\u201d the lead singer, Firda Kurnia, shrieked into the mic, singing the chorus of one of the band\u2019s hit songs, \u201c(Not) Public Property<\/a>,\u201d during a December performance in Jakarta, Indonesia\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n Nearly a decade<\/a> after first emerging, Voice of Baceprot (pronounced bachey-PROT, meaning \u201cnoise\u201d in Sundanese<\/a>, one of the main languages spoken in Indonesia) has earned a large domestic following with songs that focus on progressive themes like female empowerment, pacifism and environmental preservation.<\/p>\n Now it is also winning fans overseas. It\u2019s been praised by the likes of Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine. In the past year, the band \u2014 whose lyrics mix English, Indonesian and Sundanese \u2014 has played in the United States, France and the Netherlands.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n At the Jakarta gig, Ms. Firda, 23, who goes by Marsya, told the crowd that the band was \u201ca little sad and angry to hear that someone here was a victim of catcalling.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnyone who does something like that, catcall or touch other people\u2019s bodies without consent, those are the worst forms of crime,\u201d she said. \u201cTherefore, we can\u2019t wait to curse this person through the following song.\u201d And then the band played \u201cPMS<\/a>,\u201d whose chorus is in Indonesian:<\/p>\n \u201cAlthough I am not as virgin as Virgin Mary\/I am not your rotten brain servant\/Although I am not as virgin as Virgin Mary\/I am free, completely free.\u201d<\/p>\n Voice of Baceprot may be the only prominent heavy-metal band in Indonesia whose members wear hijabs, but the heavy-metal music scene is long established here. Jakarta is the host of Hammersonic, Southeast Asia\u2019s biggest annual heavy metal music festival. The outgoing president, Joko Widodo, is a fan of Metallica and Megadeth.<\/p>\n The members of Voice of Baceprot are all practicing Muslims in their early 20s. With songs that shatter stereotypes of gender, religion and class, they have become role models for many young women in Indonesia. At the concert, many fans moshed and banged their heads in tune to the music.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Still, the group has faced critics. Indonesia, the world\u2019s biggest Muslim-majority nation, is not a theocratic state and has always cherished its secular identity, but in recent years, parts of the sprawling archipelago have adopted a more conservative interpretation of Islam \u2014 one that disapproves of young women in hijabs playing heavy metal.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThey have come under criticism and all kinds of bullying, but that didn\u2019t affect their determination to make music,\u201d said Karim, a 54-year-old fan who traveled from Bogor to Jakarta for the December concert. Like many Indonesians, he uses one name.<\/p>\n The members of the band \u2014 Marsya; the drummer, Euis Siti Aisyah, known as Sitti; and Widi Rahmati, the bassist \u2014 were all born and raised in Garut, a conservative part of West Java Province.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Their parents are farmers. The house where Marsya grew up still has no running water, and the internet is spotty. Their childhoods were spent reading the Quran, playing games in rice paddies and listening to their parents\u2019 music of choice, dangdut<\/a> \u2014 a flavor of Indonesian pop.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The girls met as junior high students in an Islamic school, where they said they were \u201ctroublemakers.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2014, they were sent to be counseled by Cep Ersa Eka Susila Satia, a teacher who first tried to get them into theater. But \u201ctheir acting was horrible,\u201d said Mr. Ersa, whom the women call \u201cAbah Ersa,\u201d or \u201cFather Ersa.\u201d<\/p>\n He directed them to play music instead, and they became part of a group of 15 students who dabbled in pop music. Then one day, the three girls borrowed Mr. Ersa\u2019s laptop and discovered his playlist. They played \u201cToxicity,<\/a>\u201d the hit song by the Armenian American metal band System of a Down, and were instantly hooked.<\/p>\n They asked Mr. Ersa to teach them how to play, and they started covering popular heavy metal songs and posting videos of their performances online. They were a hit.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Wendi Putranto, the manager for Seringai, one of the biggest heavy metal bands in Indonesia, recalled \u201cbeing blown away.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s very brave for them to play this kind of music,\u201d Mr. Wendi said. \u201cI think that\u2019s the most important thing: For them to show the people that, yes, we are women, yes, we\u2019re wearing hijab, and yes, we\u2019re Muslims who play heavy metal. So what?\u201d<\/p>\n At first, the women were called all manner of profanities. The band offended many Muslim men who believed women wearing hijabs should be docile, not head banging to metal. One day in 2015, someone threw a rock at Marsya. Attached to it was a note with an expletive.<\/p>\n They were having trouble at school, too, where they were regarded as \u201cpublic enemies,\u201d said Sitti, 23. Their principal told the girls, Marsya recalled, \u201c\u2018Your music is haram,\u2019\u201d or forbidden, and that they were \u201c\u2018going to hell.\u2019\u201d They dropped out, but eventually graduated from another school.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The hostility took a toll. \u201cWe told Abah we were tired, and we wanted to stop playing music because of that,\u201d Marsya said. \u201cAnd Abah said: \u2018Why bother with humans? Just ask God directly.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n