An 'Accolade' of music revolution from Saudi

JIDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA: They live in a country the females have no right to expose their face, leave alone raise their voice in public.

In a country where a woman has to think twice before driving a car, it is unimaginable to set up a music band. But that restriction did not, however, restrain these girls from venturing into a music revolution, which is a hit on MySpace nowadays.

It was the craze “to do something different” that worked as the catalyst in the formation of the rock band called The Accolade in Saudi Arabia, a country that maintains a strict code of control over women.

So the band virtually works as an underground troupe, and perform secretly. They have not come open in public, for fear of offending the religious authorities.

That was how the gang of four decided to enter MySpace to express themselves thus giving a wider reach to their venture, a secret one at that.

The Accolade describes on MySpace the formulation of the band like this:

“Dina -the (guitarist) was so interested in music.. especially rock & metal music. Her dream was to make a band! she started learning how to play the guitar at the age of 16..

“Also, Dareen (bassist) was a huge support for her and even shared the same dream, so they started to look for members to create the band… they met Lamia (vocals ) & Amjad who happened to be interested in the same thing.

“By 2008, they took things seriously and started to practice and create their own music!!! Their music is inspired from paintings that tell a story of certain situations in our lives...it's a blend of art & music…

The band’s first single, ‘Pinocchio’, now available on MySpace, in an instant hit and many young Saudis are downloading the song from the group’s Web site. Now, the gang of four students is thinking of playing regular gigs and even recording an album in a conservative kingdom.

So is it time to expect new-age Madonnas and Britneys from Saudi?

Do you think think this music revolution heralds a wid of change in the conservative Saudi Arabia?