Saudi Girl Rock Group Challenges Status Quo

Saudi Arabia's First Girl Band, Accolade, Have Underground Hit

Dec 16, 2008

In the wake of loosening cultural rules and civil laws, the female rock group Accolade from Jidda have a hit of their own in "Pinocchio", and now the sky's the limit.

They acknowledge the danger, but the band Accolade seems to welcome any challenge they face in their native Saudi Arabia. In a country renowned for its poor treatment of women, the irony is not lost on the band members - Dina, Dareen, Lamia, and Amjad. The New York Times reports the lead singer, Lamia, as saying, "Maybe we're crazy. But we wanted to do something different." The difference they espouse now may one day become the norm in an ever-evolving country.

Jidda: A City of Easing Taboos

In terms of moral codes, Jidda is the loosest city in Saudi Arabia, a country whose under-25 citizens already makes up 60% of the population. The infamous Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, whose purpose is to monitor breaches of moral standards, whether in dress or conduct, no longer prowls the streets as much as before, making it easier for bands like Accolade to increase their popularity among young people.

What's more, women have become more emboldened by new freedoms without as much fear of repercussions. Nowhere is this more evident than in the origin of the band's name, based on the painting "The Accolade" by the English painter Edmund Blair Leighton. The painting focuses on a noblewoman knighting a male warrior. Dina said she likes the painting because "it shows a woman who is satisfied with a man."

Accolade's single Pinocchio is their only recorded music so far. But the band has dreams of recording an album undercover so as to avoid censorship. Their parents are supportive of the effort, but only on the condition that they keep to a low profile. The girls do not mind, nor do they approve of the sort of lifestyle so often associated with rock music - while they embrace accompanying freedoms, they do not smoke, drink, or do drugs. They simply want to make their art in a receptive environment.

However, the rock scene in Saudi Arabia is resurfacing only after experiencing some repression in the mid-90's and dying out. Rock music is still associated with the West, and thus the risk of repression is still alive. But as long as the young population readily accepts these changes, Saudi Arabi, with much of the rest of the Middle East, will slowly but surely experience a new dawn of freedom in realms even beyond the arts.

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