SMAEL ARANA
Updated:19/07/2015
The well-known Los Angeles band Maroon 5 could have become the latest music group to be banned in China after the cancellation of their performances scheduled for this summer in the Asian country was announced. without giving explanations about the reason , something that has unleashed all kinds of speculation on the networks.
on tuesday, the tour organizing company, Live Nation, reported on Weibo of the suspension of concerts that the band was scheduled to offer in Shanghai and Beijing in September as part of their Asian tour, y solo aludían a razones "sin especificar " to justify this fact.
Many of his followers, disappointed and frustrated by the announcement, They did not take long to speculate about the reason for this sudden change., and the vast majority concluded that it was due to the tweet of one of the members of the group, Jesse Carmichael, that the past 4 July attended an event near Los Angeles to celebrate the 80 Dalai Lama's birthday, spiritual leader of Tibet.
that day, The keyboardist and guitarist published a message on Twitter that read like this: "Feliz cumpleaños Estados Unidos (and also for the Dalai Lama), We sing Happy Birthday to His Holiness today with a…" , which was followed by a link to Instagram. Both the tweet and the photo have already been deleted., but a version of the publication remains available online.
Maroon 5 will join a blacklist already full of artists who were one day banned for similar attitudes
The Dalái Lama, winner of a Nobel Peace Prize, went into exile in 1959 after a failed uprising in Tibet against the Beijing government. Since then, los dirigentes chinos no han dejado de criticarle y le acusan de ser un "separatista" .
The Chinese authorities have not commented on the matter., but if it finally turns out that the cancellation is the result of that gesture, Maroon 5 will join a blacklist already full of artists who were one day banned for similar attitudes. And it is that, as the Beijing edition of Time Out magazine recognized this week, "una cita con el Dalái Lama es todo lo que un artista necesita para obtener una gran X en su solicitud de visado" .
Linkin Park , another popular American rock band, suffered a similar fate in 2011 after they were photographed shaking hands and hugging the Dalai Lama at a conference in Los Angeles. However, after a six year hiatus, the group will be able to perform again in China, and this week he will play in Shanghai and Beijing.
It is much more difficult for other artists like Bjork u Oasis . La cantante islandesa cantó " ¡Tibet! ¡Tibet!" al final de su canción "Declare Independence " at a concert in Shanghai in 2008, while the Brits were forced to cancel their dates in China after their guitarist Noel Gallagher will perform at a Free Tibet concert in New York.
But not only the issue of Tibet is cause for sanctions in China. In the year 2012, various media assured that Elton John había sido interrogado por la policía china después de dedicar su concierto en Pekín al "espíritu y talento de Ai Weiwei" , a local artist who has hadnumerous clashes with the country's authorities .
Beijing views with very bad eyes any approach to the figure of the Dalai Lama by a public figure, including politicians such as David Cameron or Barack Obama. a few days ago, Chinese foreign ministry reacted harshly when Valerie Jarrett, Obama advisor, joined the Dalai Lama's birthday celebration party in New York despite Beijing's objections.
Beijing does not agree that public figures support the Dalai Lama, including politicians such as David Cameron or Barack Obama
The news of the cancellation of Maroon's visit 5 It caused hundreds of Internet users to express their opinion on the subject on social networks such as Weibo., with messages both for and against the band . According to the BBC, uno de ellos comentaba "los músicos deben dedicarse a los suyo y hacer música . ¿Why do they get into politics??" , mientras que otro los defendía diciendo " ¿Is going to a friend's birthday party the same as agreeing with their political ideas??"
Comments like these reflect the difficulties that artists must face when scheduling a tour in China. The most populous country in the world is a tempting market, with thousands of consumers willing to pay a lot of money for a ticket to a performance. However, The Chinese Government still imposes tight control on the entertainment industry and forces companies to comply with cumbersome control procedures, among which are reporting on the performances and support events in which each artist has participated before they perform in the country.
@iaranau
