[Infowarrior] - Saudi Girl Group Dares to Rock

[Richard Forno]

As Taboos Ease, Saudi Girl Group Dares to Rock

By ROBERT F. WORTH
Published: November 23, 2008

JIDDA, 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.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/24/world/middleeast/24saudi.html?hp