White musician plays reggae
Berner Beiz cancels the concert – because visitors are protesting
The dialect singer Lauwarm plays reggae songs in a well-known pub in Bern – until the audience protests about “cultural appropriation” and the concert is therefore canceled. With this, the debate about “cultural appropriation” reaches Switzerland.
A scandal in Bern’s scene Brasserie Lorraine in Bern on Monday a week ago: the Bernese dialect artist Lauwarm had to cancel his concert. The reason: several visitors express “discomfort with the situation” during the concert. This was announced by the collectively managed pub today on Facebook.
The visitors were bothered by the fact that Lauwarm, as a white musician, plays reggae music – a musical style originating from Jamaica. “After a conversation, we decided together to cancel the concert,” said Brasserie Lorraine. It was about the topic of “cultural appropriation”.
The brasserie goes on to say that they would like to apologize to all visitors “where the concert caused bad feelings”. The pub now wants to hold a discussion event on the subject in mid-August. Brasserie Lorraine has not yet been available for a statement to Blick.
Can a white artist play reggae?
With this incident, a socio-political debate has reached Switzerland, which recently spilled over from the USA to Europe under the slogan “cultural appropriation”. The core question is: Can elements from other cultures be adopted and reproduced? Or in this specific case: Can a white artist play reggae?
The debate is not just limited to music. Most recently, the French luxury brand Dior is heating up Chinese tempers. A skirt from the latest fall collection should have the same cut and sew pattern as a traditional Chinese skirt. Neither the product name nor the description on Dior’s website indicated its Chinese origin.