Music

American Rapper Macklemore Says He Canceled Dubai Show Over UAE Arming Sudan Paramilitary Forces

Published

3 weeks ago

2024-08-26

DUBAI, UAE — Macklemore, an American rapper, has canceled an impending October show in Dubai due to the UAE’s suspected support for the paramilitary army fighting government soldiers in Sudan.

Macklemore’s revelation focused on the UAE’s participation in the conflict gripping the African nation. While the UAE has frequently denied providing the Rapid Support Forces and assisting their leader, Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, UN specialists reported “credible” evidence in January that the Emirates transferred weaponry to the RSF multiple times per week from northern Chad.

Sudan descended into anarchy in mid-April 2023, when long-simmering tensions between its military and paramilitary commanders flared up in the capital, Khartoum, and extended to other regions, especially Darfur. According to estimates, over 18,800 people have died in the conflict, and more than 10 million have fled their homes. Hundreds of thousands face hunger.

American Rapper Macklemore Says He Canceled Dubai Show Over UAE Arming Sudan Paramilitary Forces

At a tense U.N. Security Council meeting in June, Sudan’s fragile government accused the UAE of supporting the RSF, prompting an Emirati diplomat to tell his counterpart to cease “grandstanding.” The UAE has participated in continuing peace efforts to halt the fighting.

The Emirati Foreign Ministry and Dubai Media Office had no immediate comment on Macklemore’s public remark Sunday. Last week, organizers said that the performance had been canceled and that refunds would be paid, but they did not explain why.

In a Saturday Instagram post, Grammy winner Macklemore claimed he had a series of people “asking me to cancel the show in solidarity with the people of Sudan and to boycott doing business in the UAE for the role they are playing in the ongoing genocide and humanitarian crisis.”

Macklemore claimed he reconsidered the concert in part because of his previous outspoken support for Palestinians during the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict in the Gaza Strip. He recently began performing a song called “Hind’s Hall,” in memory of Hind Rajab, a young girl slain in Gaza in a shooting that Palestinians blamed on Israeli forces opening fire on a civilian car.

“I know that this will probably jeopardise my future shows in the area, and I truly hate letting any of my fans down,” he said. “I was also quite excited. But, until the UAE stops arming and funding the RSF, I will not perform there.”

He said, “I have no judgement against other artists who perform in the UAE.” But I do ask my peers who are slated to perform in Dubai: “What could we achieve if we used our platforms to mobilise collective liberation?”

The RSF was founded by Janjaweed fighters under former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who governed the country for three decades before being deposed in a popular rebellion in 2019. The International Criminal Court wants him on charges of genocide and other crimes committed during the Darfur conflict in the 2000s.

American Rapper Macklemore Says He Canceled Dubai Show Over UAE Arming Sudan Paramilitary Forces

Dubai, home to long-haul carrier Emirates, the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, and other tourist attractions, has long attempted to attract A-list musicians to the city-state’s new stadium and other venues. However, performers have already highlighted the difficulty of performing in the UAE, a hereditarily administered federation of seven sheikhdoms where speech is strictly regulated.

That includes American comedian Dave Chappelle, who made headlines in Abu Dhabi in May when he referred to the Israel-Hamas conflict as a “genocide” while simultaneously mocking the UAE’s extensive surveillance infrastructure.

Macklemore, a 41-year-old rapper born Benjamin Hammond Haggerty in Kent, Washington, received a Grammy Award in 2014 for his breakout single “Thrift Shop.”

SOURCE | AP

Music

Maná Removes Song With Nicky Jam In Protest Of His Support For Trump

Published

1 day ago

2024-09-17

Kiara Grace

Mana AP news

MEXICO CITY — Maná, a Mexican pop-rock band, has pulled a 2016 song featuring Nicky Jam after the Puerto Rican reggaeton artist declared support for Republican presidential contender Donald Trump.

“Maná does not work with racists,” the group stated in an Instagram post explaining why they removed “De pies a cabeza” from online platforms. The song is a remix of the 1992 original from Maná’s iconic album “¿Dónde jugarán los niños?”

“For the past 30 years, Maná has supported and defended the rights of Latinos around the world. “No business or promotion is more valuable than the dignity of our people,” the band stated on Instagram.

Maná Removes Song With Nicky Jam In Protest Of His Support For Trump

Jam, best known for songs like “Travesuras,” “Voy a Beber,” and the J Balvin collaboration “X,” endorsed Trump during a rally in Las Vegas last Friday. When presenting the artist, Trump appeared to mistake him for a woman: “Latin Music superstar Nicky Jam!” Do you know Nicky? She’s hot. “Where is Nicky?” he asked.

Despite the uncertainty, Jam expressed his excitement in seeing Trump, who has threatened to close the border and has employed harsh anti-immigrant language since his first presidential campaign.

For more than 20 years, Maná has advocated for migrants in the United States. When they received the Latin Recording Academy’s Person of the Year award in 2018, its vocalist Fher Olvera promised: “We will continue to fight for the rights of migrants who have made this country great; in the last century, they were the difference in this country being as great as it is.”

A spokeswoman for Jam did not immediately reply to The Associated Press’s request for comment. Maná’s publicist acknowledged the band’s statement but declined to comment further.

Maná Removes Song With Nicky Jam In Protest Of His Support For Trump

Maná, founded in Jalisco, Mexico, has won six Latin Grammys and four Grammys, making it one of Latin America’s most prominent bands. It also has a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame.

In addition to Maná, a lengthy list of artists have demanded that their music not be connected with or utilized by Trump, including ABBA, The White Stripes, Celine Dion, Bruce Springsteen, Rihanna, Phil Collins, Pharrell, R.E.M., and Guns N’ Roses.

SOURCE | AP

Music

Jane’s Addiction Cancels Its tour After Onstage Concert Fracas

Published

2 days ago

2024-09-16

Kiara Grace

Cancelled tour! The move comes after videos emerged of Farrell lunging at Navarro during a Friday concert in Boston, hitting him with his shoulder before swinging at the guitarist with his right arm. Navarro is seen extending his right arm to keep Farrell away before he is hauled away by others on stage. The show ended soon after, and the band apologised.

tour AP image

Jane’s Addiction Cancels Its tour After Onstage Concert Fracas

The band is most known for the edgy, punk-inspired singles “Jane Says,” “Been Caught Stealing,” and “Just Because” from the late 1980s and early 1990s, when the alternative rock and grunge music movements were emerging. It had three Top 5 hits on Billboard’s Alternative Airplay list.

“Perry’s frustration had been mounting, night after night, he felt that the stage volume had been extremely loud and his voice was being drowned out by the band,” Etty Lau Farrell, Farrell’s wife, wrote in an Instagram post Saturday morning.

She stated that her husband had tinnitus and a sore throat, and “by the end of the song, he wasn’t singing, he was screaming just to be heard.” She stated that her spouse later broke down “and cried and cried.”

The band’s “Imminent Redemption” tour, which featured opening act English rock band Love and Rockets, began in early August and was scheduled to end on October 16 at the YouTube Theatre in Los Angeles.

tour

Jane’s Addiction Cancels Its tour After Onstage Concert Fracas

The North American gigs were the first time the original Jane’s Addiction lineup — Farrell, Navarro, drummer Stephen Perkins, and bassist Eric Avery — had performed together for a prolonged period of time since 2010.

SOURCE | AP

Music

Foo Fighters Frontman Dave Grohl Fathers Baby Girl Out of Marriage

Published

1 week ago

2024-09-11

Geoff Thomas

Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl has announced he has become the father to a baby girl - Getty Images

Dave Grohl, the frontman of the Foo Fighters, has disclosed that he has become the father of a baby girl who was delivered outside of his marriage to his wife Jordyn Blum whom he married in 2003. Grohl has three daughters with Jordyn.

Dave Grohl expressed his intention to be a “loving and supportive parent” to his new daughter in an Instagram post.

According to USA Today, Blum and Dave Grohl made a rare public appearance in July at the Wimbledon Championships in London.

The family of five had a rare outing at last year’s Grammy Awards in Los Angeles after Nirvana received special recognition from the Grammys for their creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of recording.

During the Recording Academy’s Special Merit Award ceremony in February 2023, Pat Smear, Krist Novoselic, and Dave Grohl were each given a lifetime achievement award.

In promotion of their 2023 album “But Here We Are,” the rockers’ Everything Or Nothing at All Tour came to a close last month.