Firda Marsya Kurnia of Voice of Baceprot, also known as VoB for short, is the one of the BBC’s 100 Inspiring and Influential Women in 2024. She stands among well-known politicians, activists and even more. It is a fact that she is the only woman that comes from Indonesia on the list.
At VoB, Marsya takes a part on guitar and vocal. VoB itself is a heavy metal band from Garut, west Java, Indonesia. It consists of three personnels that all of them are women, Marsya on guitar and vocal, Widi on bass and Sitti on Drum. The band was formed when they were in junior high school.
BBC on it’s publication describes Marsya as a groundbreaking. She resists religion and gender norms which choke women activities in her country. It can be tracked on VoB’s song lyrics that She is also aware of politics, environmental degradation and corruption.
"Singing in English and Sundanese, one of the most widely spoken languages in Indonesia, the lyrics of the trio's song express their frustration with patriarchy. Being a metal band whose members are all wearing hijab, they get a lot of rejection from conservative Muslim groups,” describes BBC on her.
Before reaching a peak of life, Marsya had felt a bitter-sweet of life. Some stories tell how strong she is to arrive at this form, from disliked tragedy at her school, rejected some music festivals until she got some proudly achievements in this year, 2024.
Dropped Out from Senior High School
As reported from Kompas, Marsya had been dropped out from her senior high school. One day, VoB was invited on the television station and answered a question about whether their school was supporting your music. Marsya, as the leader of the group, said “No”.
Because of her saying, the school felt there was no respect from them and even just made the school’s image more bitter. So, the school decided to drop out them. The girls left the school and joined another school where these girls were united again at the same school.
Read also: Number of Metal Bands Indonesia vs Southeast Asia 2023
First Indonesian Band to Perform in Glastonbury
VoB was invited to perform in Glastonbury Festival 2024. Glastonbury Festival is an open cultural event that is held in Pilton, Somerset County, southwestern England. It is a place that unites musical performance, art performance and many more.
“Being the first Indonesian Band to perform in Glastonbury Festival, Being the band that opened at Woodsies stage, being the first hijab band that performed in there, or whatever people want to called us, still we would be ourself and no one can change it,” tells VoB on it’s Instagram official (June 30).
Achieving an Award as a Great Woman
Her band achieved the award from Cita and Cipta 2024 as the great woman. The event was held by Liputan 6 and Fimela on July 31, 2024. VoB won a category of forces of freedom of expression.
"We from the Voice of Baceprot, want to say thank you to Liputan6. This is a very extraordinary appreciation... We also thank the women who are out there. We dedicate this award to the women out there who continue to move and to anyone who wants to move forward. Thank you," said Marsya of VoB in front of audience, as qouted by Liputan 6 at Shangri-La Hotel Jakarta (July 31).
