As Taboos Ease, Saudi Girl Group Dares to Rock

[MattSh]

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.

<snip>

In a country where women are not allowed to drive and rarely appear in public without their faces covered, the band is very different. The prospect of female rockers clutching guitars and belting out angry lyrics about a failed relationship — the theme of “Pinocchio” — would once have been unimaginable here.

But this country’s harsh code of public morals has slowly thawed, especially in Jidda, by far the kingdom’s most cosmopolitan city. A decade ago the cane-wielding religious police terrorized women who were not dressed according to their standards. Young men with long hair were sometimes bundled off to police stations to have their heads shaved, or worse.

<snip>

The change has been especially noticeable since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, when the Saudis confronted the effects of extremism both outside and inside the kingdom. More than 60 percent of Saudi Arabia’s population is under 25, and many of the young are pressing for greater freedoms.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/24/world/middleeast/24saudi.html?_r=1&hp

On MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/accoladeofficial

[lapfog_1]

1. But if you are a girl and you are raped...

be prepared to be buried alive up to your neck and then have a group of men, some might be your own family, some might be the ones who raped you, throw stones at your exposed head until you are dead.

I'm sorry, but I don't think they have come all that far into the 13th century yet. And they have 700 more years of "catch up" to do.

[Winnipegosis]

2. Exactly right.

This time. (hee hee)

[Hannah Bell]

3. That is a bunch of crap.

From which hate site do you get your bullshit?

[LaurenG]

4. here you go - it should be crap but it's true

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x4430790

http://www.democraticunderground.com/searchresults.html?q=girl+raped+and+stoned&sitesearch=democraticunderground.com&sa=Search&domains=democraticunderground.com&client=pub-7805397860504090&forid=1&ie=ISO-8859-1&oe=ISO-8859-1&cof=GALT%3A%23008000%3BGL%3A1%3BDIV%3A%23336699%3BVLC%3A663399%3BAH%3Acenter%3BBGC%3AFFFFFF%3BLBGC%3A336699%3BALC%3A0000FF%3BLC%3A0000FF%3BT%3A000000%3BGFNT%3A0000FF%3BGIMP%3A0000FF%3BFORID%3A11&hl=en

[lapfog_1]

6. To be fair

that story is from Somalia, not Saudi Arabia.

My bad.

Here is what they do in Saudi Arabia:

http://wcco.com/national/saudi.arabia.rape.2.593675.html

at least in one case. It's worth noting that only international outrage prevented the woman in question from receiving a much harsher treatment, with at least one judge calling for her execution.



here is a view from a writer on modern day Sharia Law:

How Sharia Law Punishes Raped Women

By Hasan Mahmud

On October 30, 2008, the United Nations condemned the stoning to death of Aisha Duhulowa, a 13-year-old girl who had been gang-raped and then sentenced to death by a Sharia court for fornication (Zina). She was screaming and begging for mercy, but when some family members attempted to intervene, shots were fired by the Islamic militia and a baby was killed.

Local Sharia courts in Bangladesh regularly punish raped minor girls and women by flogging and beating them with shoes.<1> Similar cases of punishing raped women are Mina v. the State, Bibi v. the State and Bahadur v. the State.<2> Sharia courts in Pakistan have punished thousands of raped women by long term imprisonment.<3>You might think that such horrific barbarity cannot be the real Sharia law; that it is a misapplication of the law by ignorant clergy. Sadly, neither is true.

[Hannah Bell]

8. Gee, but you just told me Saudi women who are raped are routinely

buried up to their necks & stoned. By their brothers, who raped them.

Oh, they're not?

Hate-mongering bullshitter.

[Hannah Bell]

10. Oh, & the 200 lashes? She originally got 90, for being in a car alone with a man.

The rapists got 1000, plus 1-5 years of jail time.

The 200 lashes were for going to the foreign press to make a cause celebre of the original sentence.


Women aren't executed in Saudi for being raped, I don't care what rag you read it in.

[StreetKnowledge]

12. Defensive much?

Look, anybody defending Saudi Arabia's human rights record should be laughed at. Honestly. They are still among the most backward societies on the planet, only influential because of the huge quantities black gold they sit on. They have come far I'm sure, but they have a helluva long ways to go still, believe me.

90 lashes for being in a car with a man who was not her husband, and you're defending this?

[Hannah Bell]

24. i'm correcting a slimy hatemongering lie.

and the us is also one of the most backward societies on planet, they do their killing en masse.

1 million excess deaths in iraq & counting, your outrage rings pretty hollow.

[StreetKnowledge]

29. So, because a small minority of Idiots

Screwed our image abroad means that those of us who never supported the Iraq war can't comment on barbarians in Saudi Arabia?

Outrage rings hollow?

[dsomuah]

57. There is a difference in commenting, and spreading untruths.

There are enough TRUE acts of barbarism in Saudi Arabia that there is no need to make things up. Let's not do the Rove-Palin truth stretching thing here.

[Hannah Bell]

7. Yeah, what the hell, Somalia, Saudi, all them arab countries are the same.

Read the article, for god's sake.

No, women who are raped in Saudi aren't buried in pits & stoned, let alone by their families. Here: the victim got 90 lashes for being in a car alone with a man, the rapists got 1000 lashes & various years of jail time. Not western justice, but not totally unjust, either.

http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=115654&version=1&template_id=37&parent_id=17


And Somalia? Being buried in a pit & stoned isn't the traditional response to rape there, either.

But "unusual" things happen in war zones, especially in war zones where big powers are funding "warlords" & covert ops.

The US is one of those big powers.

So I suggest some humility is in order about other people's barbarisms. Who knows, you may be funding them.

On edit: For sure, you're paying for the dissemination of the propaganda effort.

[lapfog_1]

13. Wow. touched a nerve somewhere.

Actually, in the Saudi case involving a woman who went to meet a man (a friend) to retrieve photos of herself (as she was about to be married so God forbid that another man might have a photo of her, literally, God forbid), both the man and woman were abducted and raped. For being a victim of this crime the MAN was given 90 lashes. The woman was condemned to death at least once by a judge, before she had her sentence commuted to 6 months in prison. She was GUILTY of the CRIME of being in a car with a man that wasn't a family member or her brother. Had no international outrage taken place, she might well have been executed. But not by stoning, no, the Saudis are much more humane about it, they would have dragged her to a stadium and cut her head off. Like this person... and yes, this photo is from Saudi Arabia.



Which you then go on to characterize the punishment of both victims as "not unjust". Just Wow.

I'm sorry, that offends my sense of worldwide justice. Not western justice.

Now consider the story of Fazwa Falih. You see her husband discovered one day that he could no longer get an erection. And a Saudi court determined that it was because she had put a curse on her husband. And that means she is a witch! So she was convicted of the crime of witchcraft (she confessed though she could not read or write and claimed the police beat the confession out of her). And was ordered to be executed by beheading. She is currently awaiting that fate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fawza_Falih

Yup, that's some bit of progressive justice and women's rights there! :sarcasm:

The spread of Wahhabi Islam (which promotes the Sharia system of "justice") is funded not by the US, but mostly by Saudi Arabia.

So, your outrage is that I am a taxpayer and my government is paying some faction or other of a nasty war, and this event that happened to a 13 year old girl is somehow connected to that war, though not in any story that I've read. So I should show humility (by that you mean I shouldn't speak of these things) because I *might* be indirectly funding it? None of the people actually involved in stoning this girl are really responsible for their actions? What were the punishments handed out here? Did the militia members who ran this public execution end up being arrested for overstepping their legal authority to punish 13 year old girls who have been gang raped?

And, of course, it has nothing to do with the religion that these people are raised in. BTW, Christians used to burn people at the stake, and if they still did such things, I'd be protesting that as well. And the Jews aren't all innocent in this, they don't (as far as I know) punish rape victims, but they sure can kick people off of their land and proclaim it "given to them by god" and then shoot anyone that disagrees.

I'm an equal opportunity anti-religion asshole. Don't even get me started on the Mormons.

Sorry, I don't buy your spin and I'm not going to be all "politically correct" here and say "Yup, it's the US government's fault. All religions are really good and decent and moral and all practitioners of said religions are really nice people except when corrupted because of something the American government did". That's a load of bullshit.

Why don't you get back to me on how much "progress" has been made in the lovely Kingdom... just as soon as women can go outside without an adult male family member, or drive a car, or vote. Or at least when they can't be convicted of witchcraft and then beheaded for it.

[Hannah Bell]

20. Yes, I have a visceral reaction to lying hatemongers.

>>Which you then go on to characterize the punishment of both victims as "not unjust".>>


more lies. here's what i said:

"No, women who are raped in Saudi aren't buried in pits & stoned, let alone by their families. Here: the victim got 90 lashes for being in a car alone with a man, the rapists got 1000 lashes & various years of jail time. Not western justice, but not totally unjust, either."


As for the rest of your garbage: you started out saying saudi women who were raped could expect to be buried in the sand & stoned by their families & rapists.

>>But if you are a girl and you are raped...be prepared to be buried alive up to your neck and then have a group of men, some might be your own family, some might be the ones who raped you, throw stones at your exposed head until you are dead.>>


Since every word of it was bullshit, I don't even bother to read the rest of your slimy post.

[lapfog_1]

26. Slimy this and slimy that..

And I read all of your overly defensive hate spewing posts.

Oh well.

The important point is that you think that rape victims SHOULD be punished.

"Not western justice, but not totally unjust, either." 90 lashes for being raped and/or being alone with a man (gasp) in a car.

I hope you never experience this justice system that you defend.

[Hannah Bell]

30. go peddle your straw men somewhere they might be appreciated.

[lapfog_1]

33. My straw men???

I was simply echoing your words back to you.

You were the one defending a punishment of 90 lashes for being in a car with a man. Caught doing so only because other men came and raped her.

And you forget that at one point (before there was outrage from the despised western press) she was, in fact, given a death sentence. Or do you dispute that too?

Hardly a strawman.

[Hannah Bell]

39. yep, your straw men, no, she wasn't given a death sentence.

too ugly and dishonest you are.

[Odin2005]

36. I have a visceral reaction to people who try to rationalize away inhuman cultural practices...

:puke:

[Hannah Bell]

41. i have a visceral reaction to straw men.

show me where i rationalize away anything.

then let's talk about the american gulag.

[Odin2005]

45. "Evil westerners do it too" is not a valid argument.

You were talking about strawmen?

[Hannah Bell]

48. yep, and there's another one.

[ProfessorGAC]

38. Nobody Said That Hannah

You can disagree without putting words into other people's mouths.
The Professor

[Hannah Bell]

40. nobody said arab countries were all the same?

no, just vehemently asserted that in saudi rape victims could expect to be buried & stoned by their rapists & families.

based on something that happened in somalia.

but i should have said "muslim," cause that's the poster's nasty little hobbyhorse.

[ProfessorGAC]

44. A Different Case

And i know you have history with that poster. But, your case is not so flimsy as to require debating things that weren't said.

Hey, i'm supporting your opinion, even though i find the Saudi gov't to be one of the more loathesome in the world. Not that any are all that clean. I find them to be in the dirtiest 10%.

But, your facts were the correct ones in this thread.
GAC

[Hannah Bell]

47. i don't have history with the poster to my recollection. i went to the post you linked

& didn't find anything misrepresented, so maybe you could tell me so i could correct my error.

[ProfessorGAC]

51. I Didn't Link Any Post

Perhaps you have me confused with someone else.

And, i specifically said that your facts were correct regarding the treatment of women.

All i said, is that since nobody said all "arabs" (or perhaps muslims) were the same, you went off the rails in your debate, because you atributed something to another poster that wasn't said.

And, you're the one who said that "this poster" always takes the view that all the arabs are the same. That seemed like a history between you and the other poster. If i misinterpreted, than i cop to it.

But, you are in error now. I linked to no other post.
GAC

[Hannah Bell]

53. sorry, "responded to" then. mea maxima culpa.

so it was the somalia/saudi you see as the problem, discussed it already.

[lapfog_1]

50. And I corrected it.

But Hannah Bell insists on defending the Saudi justice system, going so far as to even say that the victims in the Saudi case deserved their punishment.

And I wasn't aware that I have a "history" with this person.

[ProfessorGAC]

52. My Misinterpretation Of Hannah's Earlier Post

My apologies. I misunderstood an earlier comment.
GAC

[Hannah Bell]

9. Here, why don't you tell this woman how Saudis live in the 13th century.

http://www.picturesocial.com/profile/MoeyAk

You're just a font of multicultural wisdom, you are.

[LaurenG]

18. Hannah I apologize - It was an error on my part.

:shrug:

[Hannah Bell]

21. "I'm just going to say that there are people here who are vindictive rather than

conciliatory. They would much rather spew bile than accept a correction. Some people just walk around looking for ways to be insulted"

uh-huh.

[LaurenG]

22. You have a terrible chip on your shoulder - and I'm really tired of drama queens.

You were right and I was wrong, now what more do you need.

You seem to enjoy cruelty and meaness, driving the point home with a hammer after you've corrected us all seems to be over the top. Is this how you treat all the people in your life or just people you think you can bully?

[Hannah Bell]

25. Look, your hypocritical "apology" tells me more than enough about the sincerity of your words.

[LaurenG]

65. I'm sorry that I was wrong but I'm not sorry to defend myself.

There is nothing hypocritical in my apology, I am sorry that I was confused about the country involved but certainly not sorry about anything that was said about other issues. I stand by those words so your attempt to bully and put words in my mouth didn't work. :shrug:

[Recursion]

11. So all of the middle east and the horn of Africa...

...are one place, now?

[lapfog_1]

14. no, had you read the entire thread, you will see that I corrected

this. The rape story and stoning occurred recently and in Somalia.

However, one does not have to look very hard for some equally troubling story from Saudi Arabia. Or Pakistan. Or even India (it's not always religion, in India it's often caste, i.e. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Chandigarh/Verse_for_classmate_gets_Dalit_boy_death/articleshow/3199090.cms )

Look at my other posts in this thread. Not going to rehash it over and over.

[Recursion]

15. How about the US?

You know, where a woman was just murdered as part of a ritual for joining a hate group?

I'm missing what you're point is, now: people get murdered horribly everywhere.

[lapfog_1]

17. no, shit happens everywhere.

It's when it has the stamp of approval by a government that I have a problem.

Like the case of a rape victim. Where the police arrive, take story from the victim and then charge the VICTIM with a crime. Sometimes punishable by lashes, sometimes punishable by prison sentences, and sometimes by being stoned to death (in Somalia).

We were all OUTRAGED here (and rightly so) when it was discovered that Sarah Palin wanted to charge rape victims for the rape kit test.

This was one more reason (as if we needed more reasons) to work hard to keep the Moosealini away from the White House.

I think we can afford some moral outrage over the treatment of victims of crimes by whatever government claims to be looking out for the welfare of it's people (including warlords in Somalia).

I'm not saying the US is perfect, as clearly we are not. I hope Obama ends our torturing of prisoners and either lets them go or tries them in a real court of law, charged with specific crimes, and able to confront ALL the evidence against them.

But some parts of the rest of world have a bit farther to go than we do.

[LaurenG]

19. Lapfrog - I'm just going to say that there are people here who are vindictive rather than

conciliatory. They would much rather spew bile than accept a correction. Some people just walk around looking for ways to be insulted and I hope you have a great day in-spite of this silliness.

[Alter Ego]

23. agreein' wit 'dis

Seriously, Saudi Arabia is still trapped in the 1700s and will be until those fucking Saudi princes are all dead.

[Hannah Bell]

27. 90 lashes - so yesterday.

this is much more modern & civilized.

[lapfog_1]

32. Yup, two wrongs make it alright.

you seem to have a problem distinguishing between injustice imposed on everyone with no particular malice to any individual with an injustice imposed by the leadership of ones own people on women who are VICTIMS of a crime. A very personal, intentional injustice.

They are not equivalent.

They are both wrong, but they are not equivalent. Nor can they be compared.

[Hannah Bell]

37. "Nor can they be compared."

In one, a million people died because the united states, with the support of a large proportion of its citizens, started a war with a weaker state in order to take over assets & control of that state.

In another, a girl got 90 lashes for breaking a law.

There, I compared them. One million dead v. a whipping.

But guess what the muslim-hater's upset about.

[lapfog_1]

46. What part of "they can't be compared" didn't you get?

Or are you so warped that soon you will be telling me of the crimes of the crusaders (and blaming me for those as well).

I do not hate Muslims... any more than I "hate" Christians, Jews, Mormons, Scientologists.

I happen to think they are all equally misguided.

However, some societies are more intolerant and unjust than others. And it's not all about religion. In India, a place where Gandhi preached non-violent revolution, a teacher recently beat a 16 year old boy to death for having dared to write (not even deliver) a love poem to a girl who was not of his caste. Beat him to death, right in front of the other students.

But for your outrage over the US attack on Iraq (Bush's war), why not use the pictures of an even more horrific even, the US using atomic weapons on Japan, much more indiscriminate than "shock and awe". Not to mention a gift that kept on giving.

Or is it just when Muslims are attacked that you have outrage? But if so, why not the image of hundreds of thousands of Iranians that died at the hands of the Iraqis (with US help!) in the 1980s? Where is your outrage over that event?

I have outrage over ALL of those, and many others, including Hitler's gas chambers AND the resulting formation of Israel in the midst of those "arabs" in Palestine... Palestinians who had nothing to do with the gas chambers and yet were directly affected by the result of the Holocaust.

I have outrage for ALL of those events. But I wasn't responsible for any of them.

But, to the point of the Saudis, I have outrage over their justice system and it's propensity to blame women for whatever happens to them.

[lapfog_1]

28. More like the 1300s but why quibble over a few centuries.

And even if the current generation of Saudi Princes were removed from power, it wouldn't change a thing. In fact, it might get worse.

[Hannah Bell]

31. says the astute political analyst who can't tell saudi from somalia,

it's pretty obvious what your agenda is.

[lapfog_1]

34. Oh please tell me... this should be good... - n/t

[Hannah Bell]

42. i told you - you pontificated about what happened to rape victims in saudi, but -

whoops! that was somalia!

well, they're pretty close, eh?

man, you're the guy i'd go to for political commentary!

[Douglas Carpenter]

5. actually there have been absolutely dramatic changes in Saudi Arabia over the past two decades

By far Saudi Arabia is the strictest and most archaic society in the Middle East - much, much more so than Iran.

Still, if I contrast the first time I was in Saudi Arabia in 1986 to the most recent time in only weeks ago -- 22 years ago I recall reading the most prominent local English language newspaper. And frankly it was like a joke. All articles relating to the government or the society itself were filled with nothing but praise. Everything was great and getting better. The local media was only one step above Radio Albania in the outrageousness of its own propaganda.

Now I can pick up the same newspaper and read open although admittedly somewhat restrained criticism of the government and of the society itself - but articles and openness that would have been unimaginable 21 years ago. Opinion pieces by Saudi woman calling for more rights for woman are now in the paper all the time. Articles calling for more openness from the government and criticizing the state for a lack of openness don't even raise an eyebrow anymore. Articles criticizing the society itself and the excessive influence of religious hardliners are normal. They are so common now. Even the former Israeli Knesset Member Uri Avnery's column - calling for the two-state solution and a mutual acceptance between Israel and the Arab world is now a regular in the same paper which once wouldn't even mention that columnist country's name.

More importantly is the dramatic changes in human consciousness. 21 years ago most Saudis seemed barely aware of the world just over the hill. Collective awareness outside their own tribe and province was minimal. Now most younger generation Saudis can converse and debate rationally and critically not only about the affairs of Saudi Arabia and the Middle East - but show an awareness of International issues and debate that I doubt most young Americans have. I know this is hard to believe. But I am absolutely certain that the average young Middle Eastern high school graduate is far more aware and far more critical thinking about international issues outside their own borders than the average young American.

I get the impression that most Americans have a fantasy that he whole of the Middle East is like a cross between Disney's Aladen and life under the Taliban. This is no more accurate than believing the old colonial image of Africa of cannibal wild savages throwing spears and cooking their captured white people in large pots while they all danced around the fire.

Is the change happening fast enough? No! Do they still have a long ways to go especially when it comes to issues of woman rights? Absolutely! Do horrible acts of barbarism still occur in the remote tribal regions? I'm afraid so. But they are making progress. They are moving forward. And I would dare say that they have moved forward more in the past 20 years than most societies have done over centuries.

[JCMach1]

16. You are exactly right... plus most of the population no longer agrees

with the harsh interpretation of Sharia...

Change is coming to KSA sooner rather than later...

[iamahaingttta]

35. This thread really sucks!

I swear, there are some really stupid people around here sometimes!
It's things like this that make me REALLY dislike "liberals" at times.

Listen people, if you really want to make change in the world, sometimes you just have to forget about the bitching and moaning and do something real and simple. There's a clue in that article for what YOU can do, that is so far beyond complaining about oppression, that if you were to do that one simple act, in time, oppression will be irrelevant. Yes, the women in Saudi Arabia are treated like shit and it sucks. Yes, women in much or most of the world are treated like shit and it sucks. Yet, the women in that band have done something about it, something SO much more powerful than the whining I see here. And you people appear to be too thick to see it. There's a big, fat clue in that article, and let's see if anyone else on this thread is savvy enough to pick up on it.

Otherwise, it's all words, and it's all useless and you are nothing.

[Hannah Bell]

43. you don't understand. "women's rights" is the cloak.

demonizing muslims is the agenda.

otherwise, i completely agree with you.

[iamahaingttta]

49. And in the few minutes since I wrote what I wrote above...

...over 4,000 people have done the simple thing that will change the world.
Were any of the bitchers on this thread among those 4,000 people?
Do they even have any clue as to what the hell I'm talking about?
I imagine that 10's of thousands of people will do this simple act today, and it will make a larger and more real impact than bitching anonymously on some stupid internet discussion forum.

Again... does ANYBODY here have a clue?
Did anybody here actually READ that NYTimes article?

[Hannah Bell]

54. i do. you're on an internet board bitching that other people are

not doing the useful thing you aren't doing either, which you insist we must guess what it is, thereby demonstrating our intelligence.
--
UU
////\\\\\
....

[iamahaingttta]

55. I was just waiting for someone to show some interest.

Go to the band's Myspace page.
Ask to be their friend.
Thousands of people have done that already today, no doubt as a result of that NYTimes piece.
Being friends with people from around the world is the most radical act we can engage in.

That's how we can eliminate oppression, and it's probably the only thing that will work...

[Hannah Bell]

60. thanks for revealing the secret.

though i must say, since these women have put together a band that's featured in the pages of the nyt & have a myspace page where they communicate freely with men & women from around the globe, their oppression seems to be less than dire.

i'll continue "relieving the oppression" of my personal friends to do my part for the cause.

[MattSh]

56. Thank you...

When I posted this here, I deliberately left off my own commentary. Something to the effect...

If you really want change, you have to DO something. Talking about change doesn't change anything, nor does wishing for change. Change necessitates that YOU take a risk. If all you do is sit around and wait for someone else to change things, guess what. Change will never happen.

And I just saw your comment about ask to be their friend. That's a good one too, for those who can't accept any greater action than that.

[iamahaingttta]

61. Since I first looked at their Myspace page...

...about an hour and a half ago, there have been over 12,000 profile views on their page.
For a band with only 19 "friends," that is amazing.
And no doubt, it's because of the NYTimes article.
I can only imagine how many of those viewers asked to be their "friend." (like I did)

This is totally radical. This will bring more attention to the issue of women's rights in Saudi Arabia than all the symposiums in the past decade. Why? Because it's young people hooking up with other young people around the world to share interests. There's more power in the energy of youth than in all of the old kingdoms combined.

And you can an be absolutely certain that there are going to be meetings tomorrow at the highest levels of the Saudi kingdom to discuss how to respond to this. These young women are heroes for simply doing what they want, in a place where that can lead to dire consequences. Now that the whole world is watching them, the kingdom will not be able to simply get them out of the way because they are inconvenient.

Want to change the world? Become friends with these young women...

[dsomuah]

58. The thread is great it's the reaction to the thread that sucks.

What these women are doing is extremely brave. They may get beaten or go to jail for it. So it hurts me to see people who haven't gone a thing for women's rights in a while dismiss it saying "Well things still suck in the kingdom so it's meaningless."

[darkism]

59. So did anyone listen to the band?

:shrug:

[Hannah Bell]

62. the band doesn't exist, you know, because the saudis live in the 13th century.

there are no bands, & the women are too busy running from rapists & being buried in pits in preparation for their ritual stonings.

[Hannah Bell]

66. First female singer etab dies at 66

http://www.arabnews.com/?page=9§ion=0&article=100257&d=23&m=8&y=2007



saudi singer waleb with her daughter

http://www.waleg.com/archives/005547.html

rimas, a new saudi singer

http://www.waleg.com/archives/007600.html

saudi singer sarah released from jail (drugs, not being raped)

http://www.freemuse.org/sw28188.asp

interview with faisal al-alamy of the thrash metal band octum

saudi singer waad talks to the press



http://www.nancarrow-webdesk.com/warehouse/storage2/2007-w45/img.60770.html

[iamahaingttta]

63. Yeah, unfortunately...

...their song is not very good.
At least to my ears.
But that's not what matters...

[iamahaingttta]

64. And another 1,500 profile views...

...in the last 5 minutes!