June 21st 2016, renowned rapper MIA has confirmed her decision to drop out of playing in the first UK edition of the AFROPUNK festival due to outrage from fans worldwide.
It was MIA’s comments in a 2016 interview with the evening standard that sparked the flames after the UK tour organizers decided to book the often controversial rapper. In the interview MIA said, “It’s interesting that in America the problem you’re allowed to talk about is Black Lives Matter. Is Beyoncé or Kendrick Lamar going to say Muslim Lives Matter? Or Syrian Lives Matter? Or this kid in Pakistan matters? That’s a more interesting question.”
MIA later spoke up about the comment, clarifying that it was not directed to the Black Lives Matter movement, but more a general statement about American media platforms and for what citizens in the country are really allowed to stand up. Her words came too little too late however, and fans threatened to boycott the festival unless she was removed from the lineup.
As a result MIA has announced via her twitter feed on the 20th of June that she won’t be playing the AFROPUNK Festival, though the festival has yet to confirm the change.
The AFROPUNK Festival first began in Brooklyn and has since expanded to Paris and soon, London and has been described by the New York Times as “the most multicultural festival in the US.” Is that politically savvy journo - speak for the most black festival in the US or is AFROPUNK truly about diversity? Considering this recent uproar cynics would argue that because AFROPUNK simply integrates the word ‘Afro’ in its name then ownership must centralize on an essential blackness of both the performers and the audience. This sentiment was summarized in a recently published article on Media Diversified as “In other words: the very tenets of what it means to be afropunk – celebrating black punk communities, their pioneering efforts to establish and further the movement, and their relentless participation in punk and alternative music cultures – are to be quietened so that a non-black artist can continue to parade her conflicting message of political blackness and wilfully obtuse anti-black musings whilst profiting off of artistic expressions born from that same culture.”
In the AFROPUNK’s own words it stands for..
NO SEXISM
NO RACISM
NO ABLEISM
NO AGEISM
NO HOMOPHOBIA
NO FATPHOBIA
NO TRANSPHOBIA
NO HATEFULNESS
AFROPUNK stands for… Safety for all
Speaking to Buzzfeed AFROPUNK organisers said they “will answer questions in their own way, in their own time.” A statement which resonates to the ethos of the event in its wholehearted disregard to media frenzy. In the context of AFROPUNK London, where the dialogue around racial representation is, out of utter necessity, a constant conversation a blatant scandal concerning racism such as this needs to be addressed with delicacy and respect to all colours and creed involved.
From our vantage point on the mother continent UP would like to hear what you think of this phenom considering the pervasive whitewashing we see in worldwide media. To this writer AFRO anything means more than hair, more than skin colour, it is a celebration of the mother continent and all that comes from it. So to the organisers and dissenting fans alike, let’s open up this dialogue and keep it rolling.
The upcoming UP LIVE 5: Funkadelic railroad will be a celebration of Afro Disco, the music, the movement and the diversity of our continent that is as infinite as our beats and we hope it’s a chance to break into this conversation further #musicmatters @upnairobi
For advance tickets: http://www.upnairobi.com/up-live-5-tickets/
