It would appear that there is a rock and metal craze moving through the usually staid and repre
ssive Saudi world - and now an all girl band is making waves, too: The Accolade from the town of Jidda. "They cannot perform in public. They cannot pose for album cover photographs. Even their jam sessions are secret, for fear of offending the religious authorities in this ultraconservative kingdom. But the members of Saudi Arabia’s first all-girl rock band, the Accolade, are clearly not afraid of taboos." (Robert Worth, NYT, November 24th) Listen to these women rock on their MyPage site: http://www.myspace.com/accoladeofficialIn another article from The Arab News it is stated that:
By best estimates — from young Saudi music fans — there are about 60 bands in Saudi Arabia playing Western style rock music, mostly in the form of Heavy Metal bands with their pentatonic scales and rapid-fire guitar finger work and high-tempo rhythms. Hip-hop is another favorite, followed to a lesser extent by jazz, blues and more traditional rock. Kamal Khalil, the guitarist and vocalist for the appropriately named heavy metal band Deathless Anguish, says that these youth-oriented groups aren’t recognized by the established arts societies. “They think we produce shallow material,” he said, referring to the Saudi Society of Culture and Arts. “We are like all other Saudi artists, work hard on composing special music
and lyrics.”Small wonder rock, metal and hip-hop are making an underground impact: 60% of the Saudi population is under 25 years old. As I have noted elsewhere, the music of the underground and periphery is one of the best places to hear the still speaking voice of the God of the oppressed - even when it takes the form of popular culture! You can find another popular metal/rock band, Sound of Ruby, on YouTube. In fact, social networking and the Internet have given these Saudi bands both venues and connections so that they might take their prophetic critique deeper. In the on-line fanzine, Freemuse, one writer notes that:
A growing number among the youth in Saudi Arabia is frustrated with the Kingdom's tight restrictions on social freedoms. In tv and on the internet, they observe how people live in other parts of the world, and they are beginning to question the traditional values of their parents.“The younger generation have a lot of anger and repressed feelings, because basically here in this country we have a huge cultural gap between the older and the younger generation,”
Hussein Mohammed, a heavy metal fan, told CNN’s reporter.
“Music is the only way to release that steam,” Hasan Hatrash, the band's manager, added.“Young boys here are not satisfied with how their lives are going,” guitarist Ayman Al Ghamdi told a journalist from Arab News: “The restrictions, the lack of entertainment, bachelors-for-life. All these things make us angry.”
In Jeddah, known as the principal gateway to Mecca, Islam's holiest city, is now also the base for an all-girrl metal band named Chicks Behind Walls. To put their existence into context, Saudi Arabia is a country where women are not allowed in outdoor cafes, and it is the only country in the world where women are not allowed to drive a car. They must wear black abayas and head coverings in public at all times, and special women-only shopping malls have been established to serve women who did not previously have access to such places unless chaperoned by male relatives. In restaurants women sit in booths with drawn curtains or partitions to shield them from the male relatives of other women. Men and women are segregated even in the lines at fast food outlets.
(Listen to Chicks Behind Walls at: http://www.myspace.com/chicksbehindwalls)
Like the Clash sang so long ago: Rockin' the Casbah...
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