2024-07-02 06:37:50
Two Polish festivals canceled the deliberate live shows of the Israeli double bass participant Avishai Cohen. They did so after Cohen carried out at a jazz present in Moscow this month funded by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s fund. The musician didn’t reply to the criticism, however he canceled his account on the X social community and restricted who can touch upon his Fb posts.
The Polish Jazz Round competition was the primary to cancel Cohen’s live performance, writes Gazeta Wyborcza. “Because of the latest efficiency of Avishai Cohen’s trio on the Moscow Jazz Pageant, supported by the Russian authorities, now we have determined to cancel Avishai Cohen’s live performance with regard to freedom, democracy, different individuals and, final however not least, safety,” the spokeswoman defined, assuring that the Polish organizers they assist Ukraine, not Russia.
The Polish Ethno Jazz Pageant joined this Wednesday. “We remorse to announce that Avishai Cohen’s live performance scheduled for September third in Wrocław has been cancelled,” the organizers wrote.
In line with the Polish information station tvn24.pl, Cohen didn’t touch upon the case even after a number of days. In response to a sequence of unfavorable posts from followers, he solely canceled his account on the social community X, previously generally known as Twitter, and restricted who can touch upon his posts on Fb, for instance.
Apparently, Cohen has to date solely written to the organizers of the competition in Lviv, Ukraine, who beforehand mentioned the opportunity of a charity efficiency with him. “I’ve by no means commented on politics, simply as I don’t establish with any faith or race. I deal with all folks on the earth the identical. Everybody deserves to be uplifted by the present of music,” Cohen informed the Ukrainian organizers, who known as such a response inadequate and the musician instantly blacklisted.
A video on the YouTube server exhibits how Avishai Cohen presents a brand new composition based mostly on the textual content of his namesake, the Canadian poet and singer Leonard Cohen, on the earth premiere in Moscow. “I feel it matches the occasions we reside in as a result of we wish to be peaceable. It is known as I Pray for Braveness,” says the Israeli bassist.
Avishai Cohen has not but commented on the criticism. | Picture: Matej Slávik
Within the Czech Republic, jazz journalist Petr Vidomus reported on the occasion in Deník N. In line with him, the live performance on the Moscow competition ought to most likely have been hidden from the Western viewers, as a result of Avishai Cohen didn’t inform about it on his social networks or the web site, the place he in any other case classifies every vacation spot. “Nonetheless, footage of his trio from the Moscow Hermitage Backyard is broadly shared on the networks,” Vidomus factors out.
Along with Cohen, oud participant Dhafer Youssef and Cameroonian bassist Richard Bona carried out in Moscow. Prior to now, each of them, like Cohen, additionally gave live shows within the Czech Republic. The principle face of the Moscow present is the Russian saxophonist Igor Butman, a member of the ruling United Russia occasion and a supporter of the Russian annexation of the Ukrainian Crimea.
The annual occasion is funded by President Vladimir Putin’s particular fund for tradition and Gazprombank, which is the financial institution of the Russian gasoline group Gazprom. By taking part on this occasion, in accordance with Vidomus, the artists broke a sure taboo, “specifically, that Western musicians don’t often play within the nation that invaded Ukraine two years in the past”.
On this context, the Polish weekly Polityka remembers that the Poles already canceled a live performance by the musician Roger Waters from the band Pink Floyd in 2022 due to his pro-Russian attitudes. Likewise, Czech singer-songwriter Jaromír Nohavica misplaced a sequence of deliberate live shows in Poland when he refused to return a medal from Vladimir Putin after the outbreak of the Russian battle in Ukraine.
Alternatively, in response to the outbreak of the Russian battle in Ukraine, musicians comparable to Nick Cave and Iggy Pop or the bands Iron Maiden, Inexperienced Day, Franz Ferdinand, Convey Me the Horizon and The Killers canceled their deliberate live shows in Russia.
Fifty-four-year-old Avishai Cohen began out as a bandmate of the well-known jazz pianist Chick Corey, and commenced his solo profession within the Nineteen Nineties.
Since then, he has additionally been going to the Czech Republic, the place he carried out nearly three dozen live shows, together with on the prestigious Struny Podzimu and Colours of Ostrava festivals. However he additionally gave live shows at Prague Citadel or the Karlín Discussion board.
Video: Banning Putin’s artists is smart, they’re his prostitutes, says Putna (March 18, 2022)
“Reality is what the Tsar needs. What creates a pleasant picture of Russia,” Professor Martin C. Putna stated on DVTV shortly after the beginning of the Russian battle in Ukraine. | Video: Daniela Písařovicová