Lamia, Dina. Dareen and Amjad, the members of The Accolade, Saudi Arabia’s first all-girl rock band represent a new generation of Saudi girls and a new wave of popular music.
Three years ago, Dina, The Accolade’s 21-year-old guitarist and founder dreamed of starting a band. In September 2008, she and her sister Dareen, 19, who plays bass, decided it was rock o’clock and joined up with Lamia and Amjad, the keyboardist.
The band’s name comes from a pre-Raphaelite painting entitled “The Accolade” by Edmund Blair Leighton. The painting is of a longhaired noblewoman knighting a young warrior with a sword.
“I liked the painting because it shows a woman who is satisfied with a man”, Dina said, in an interview with the New York Times. Perhaps not surprisingly, Dina is an art student at King Abdulaziz University.
An all girl rock and roll band is the last thing many people would expect in Saudi Arabia, a country where rock and roll is frequently associated with decadent lifestyles. Most Saudi bands play heavy metal, which has only added to the stigma because of the way some Western heavy metal bands use images that portray Satanism or witchcraft.
Mission Possible: Music
The Accolade isn’t about vice. All the band members fervently believe in their art, and disapprove of smoking, drinking and drugs. Their parents support them, but ask that they keep things low-key and respectful. As such, The Accolade don’t perform in public, pose for album cover photographs and keep their weekly jam sessions a secret.
But this doesn’t render them anonymous by any accounts: Dina, Dareen, Lamia, and Amjad have developed a large virtual following on Facebook and MySpace. They even have a video on Youtube (although the girls themselves don’t appear in it.)
As a sign of the times, The Accolade use social networks to spread their voice. In their own way, the band represents the many ways the modern Muslim community is using the web to challenge stereotypes and create public discussion about politics, women’s rights, and other social issues. Like bloggers and social media users, the Saudi girl band is advancing positive, social goals in a non-violent way. Their music successfully made mainstream news and generated social and political commentary that was published by prominent and respected voices in the Muslim community.
Changing the Lens on Stereotypes
Although they have a cause: to promote their art, and assist change, The Accolade don’t have any particular axe to grind – they never mention of human rights or religious issues in their press interviews. The band tells a unique story and the girls offer a fresh perspective on Saudi women and on the entire Muslim world more. The image they portray encourages readers and listeners to explore the diversity of the Muslim world by challenging stereotypes about oppressed women and mainstream misconceptions about Islamic extremism.
Jeddah Rocks!
Their timing is impeccable: It’s generally agreed that the Kingdom is lightening up, compared to how it was even just a decade ago. Today, Jeddah boasts a blossoming rock scene with dozens of bands, some of them even selling tickets to their performances. Hip-hop is also popular. The religious police (a.k.a The Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice) generally keep off the streets and even have less of a presence in the kingdom’s desert regions.
It was the growth of the Saudi rock scene that inspired Dina to start her own band. The Accolade plans to grow slowly, surely and safely – with “jams for ladies only” at first. The band members’ parents support them, though they have asked them to keep a low profile. One day they hope to play real concerts, perhaps in Dubai.
“Everything is changing. Maybe in 10 years it’s going to be O.K. to have a band with live performances.” Dina says optimistically.
“Its important for them to see what we’re capable of.”
