Noting that stars including the Pixies, Gorillaz Sound System and Elvis Costello have cancelled concerts recently following Israel’s raid on the human rights activists’ ship in which nine unarmed campaigners were killed,the campaign group declared ‘as you know, music cannot be isolated from politics.’
“A visit to Israel, particularly now, is viewed by Israel, and internationally, as implicit support for Israeli policies and indifference to the victims of Israeli crimes,” they added.
“It comes as an additional grievance to us that you plan to come to Lebanon after you entertain apartheid Israel. It is not only the Palestinians who have been victimized by Israel. We, in Lebanon, have suffered a great deal. We appreciate your talent, as millions around the world do, but we cannot enjoy it while you ignore the suffering caused by the recurring Israeli aggressions on Lebanon,” they added.
The letter was published three years after a Lebanese newspaper published a story warning that Al Qaida were threatening to assassinate Tiesto and 'tear out your hearts with traps and surround your places with explosive canisters’, if he dared to play in Beirut. Lebanese newspaper Ya Libnan subsequently apologized, admitting the death threat had turned out to be a hoax, and in the event the gig passed off without incident.
In better news for the Dutch DJ, Diplo eulogised him effusively this week, robustly defending their much mocked recent collaboration C’Mon in an interview with Big Shot Magazine.
“The bottom line is that I always want to do something that hasn’t been done before and make something that sounds interesting,” Diplo declared.
“The guy is so positive about music and one of the biggest artists I’ve ever worked with. He’s bigger than Snoop Dogg or anyone I can imagine,” he continued.
“Everybody knows him around the world, and I can’t believe how humble and cool he is about making music,” he added. (Bigshot: http://newsflash.bigshotmag.com/?p=8579 )
http://bit.ly/c8zC2z (‘Open letter from Lebanon to DJ Tiesto: Don’t entertain an outlaw state!’)
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