ARTICLE: "As Taboos Ease, Saudi Girl Group Dares to Rock," by Robert F. Worth, New York Times, 24 November 2008.

Cool article with dynamite start:

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 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.

Cracks in the wall, facilitated by the Web, with ground zero being the most cosmo Saudi city, Jidda. There we find a "growing rock scene with dozens of bands." The culture cops are apparently less aggressive in the "kingdom's desert heartland." When almost two-thirds of your population is under 25, such control is tricky. Something to keep an eye on.