The New York Times reports on the all-female Saudi rock band The AccoLade. I don’t know that this is the first all-girl band in the Kingdom, but it’s certainly the first to get international news coverage! You can listen to one of their songs at the above link.
UPDATE: I’m informed that AccoLade is not the first all-girl rock band in Saudi Arabia. That honor goes to Chicks Behind Walls. Thanks to ‘Keystone’ for the information. ‘Keystone’ also reminds that finding public venues is difficult even for male bands in the Kingdom. There’s a strange interpretation of Islam held by some (many?) that music is forbidden in Islam, outside of tribal drumming anyway.
As Taboos Ease, Saudi Girl Group Dares to Rock
ROBERT F. WORTHJIDDA, Saudi Arabia — 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.
The band’s first single, “Pinocchio,” has become an underground hit here, with hundreds of young Saudis downloading the song from the group’s Web site. Now, the pioneering foursome, all of them college students, want to start playing regular gigs — inside private compounds, of course — and recording an album.
“In Saudi, yes, it’s a challenge,” said the group’s lead singer, Lamia, who has piercings on her left eyebrow and beneath her bottom lip. (Like other band members, she gave only her first name.) “Maybe we’re crazy. But we wanted to do something different.”
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November:24:2008 - 11:46
Wow, I’m quite impressed! Thanks for posting this!
November:24:2008 - 11:46
Wow.. I am really impressed.. the track they have is pretty top notch. I have been following the rock scene here in SA for a while and been around Sametal.org. There was someone who claimed to be a girl band called “girls behind walls” or something of the like before.. but this is the first female band to actually release something.
November:24:2008 - 11:46
I like the song pinocchio and find it interesting that the first song is about a relationship gone bad…
I wish I could download to my ipod…ONE Day INshallah when they have a record label…
This is the stuff that should be reported on…NOT TANGERINE SCARVES!!! (VOMIT)
November:24:2008 - 11:46
Might I add if this is the first taste of their tunes then I believe they have even more to offer because I am sure they have rocked to HELL and back with the PAIN that is experienced just living under certain conditions…
Lamia doesn’t seem to have an accent…
She kind of sounds like what Evanescence gothic sounding but with a twist of punk a little bree of Avril (not too much though) I dont’ even really know if she is punk but seems punk to me. I am no expert but just basing it on what I hear. I can get a tinge of Pink that may need to come out one day. Instead of “Dear Mr. President…”It will be like “Dear King or Dear Prince so and so…come and take a walk with me”
November:24:2008 - 11:46
Sparky, I personally think she actually sounds close to Lacuna Coil.. one of their influence bands. Evanescence might be of the same genre.. but they really have a lot in common with Lacuna Coil.
Also you can download the mp3 on reverbnation http://www.reverbnation.com/theaccolade
November:24:2008 - 11:46
Wow. I’m impressed. I guess we may yet see a rock and roll revolution in Saudi Arabia
November:24:2008 - 11:46
For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)
AC/DC
http://www.mtv.com/videos/acdc/182115/for-those-about-to-rock-we-salute-you-live.jhtml
November:24:2008 - 11:46
Was that Russia in the ACDC video? I will have to download that song too.
Hi DW, I will download from there thanks.
Also, I haven’t heard of Lacuna Coil.
November:24:2008 - 11:46
The song has been successfully downloaded to my ipod. I can’t believe I will be rocking to an all Saudi Girl Rock band while I am pumping iron at the YMCA. Actually I am gonna let everybody I know listen to the song and say “Can you believe these is a Saudi girl band?”
November:24:2008 - 11:46
The concert is in Moscow. I’m not sure when it took place.
November:24:2008 - 11:46
dumb bitches with nothing better to do
November:24:2008 - 11:46
Well, I’ve no evidence that they’re dumb (other than using My Space). Nor have I any proof that they’re ‘bitches’, as you so nicely put it.
I do have the evidence of my ears that they have some quantum of talent and musical taste, however.
BTW, Za, when’s your album coming out? Do you have an MP3 to share with us?
November:24:2008 - 11:46
Za, your eloquence overwhelms me.
You should set that to music and put it on YouTube,
November:24:2008 - 11:46
“The song has been successfully downloaded to my ipod. I can’t believe I will be rocking to an all Saudi Girl Rock band while I am pumping iron at the YMCA. Actually I am gonna let everybody I know listen to the song and say “Can you believe these is a Saudi girl band?”
Great going Sparky. Now I have “Y… M C A!” playing the in the back of my head!
On another note, how do you guys do quotes in your posts?
November:24:2008 - 11:46
Za, I am sorry but in your hivemind ideology.. what is considered smart and better to do?
I honestly didn’t see any comment from you that you spent some effort in, care to elaborate where do you mask your intellect and chastity? Your lack of objective responses and retort to simple comments where you slander what doesn’t meet your ideals show nothing but disregard to others and lack of individual opinion. You would rather use the privative excuse of self righteousness to slander these girls as whores and dumb broads.. the fact that you decided to just resort to such slander doesn’t achieve you any moral superiority to look down on them.
As much as you have a right to blast away such retarded spiteful comments.. they have the right to sing their lungs out. For far too long women here in Saudi Arabia have felt awkward just to be out in public. If you think every women who doesn’t want to be restrained is a dumb whore, you should find a ditch and bury your head in it. Women in the Middle East are taking over, there are more female graduates from universities than there are male ones now. They don’t need to have your moral superiority, they only need their hard work and focused mind. Something you lacked to display in the sum of your comments.
November:24:2008 - 11:46
that music is just horrible, these bitches obvious won’t get anywhere
November:24:2008 - 11:46
M: Do you mean indented quotations?
If so, use this code, putting your quotation between the HTML markup:
November:24:2008 - 11:46
Good thing we allow for different taste in music, I guess.
I also know I could get these women a recording contract very easily.
November:24:2008 - 11:46
Za when pinocchio lied ONLY his nose grew longer…so stop trying so HARD!
Some people are threatened by other’s successes…
November:24:2008 - 11:46
They are not the first (or last) Saudi rock band, and they are not the first Saudi all-girl band either. Chicks Behind Walls are Saudi’s first all-girl rock band.
A fellow Saudi band who is also struggling is Sandstoned; three of the band members, including the vocalist, are Saudi nationals. Regardless of gender, all rock artists in Saudi Arabia struggle to find live venues; the laws in the Kingdom are gender-blind when it comes to such
matters of propriety.
November:24:2008 - 11:46
Thanks for the update. I’ll change the original post.
Thanks, too, for the reminder that the problems that girl bands face are also the ones that male bands face, at least some of the time.