The Swiss reggae band Lauwarm was uninvited again. Actually, they should have played at the Lorraine-Chilbi culture festival on August 20th, but their performance was canceled at short notice.
The organizers did not directly announce the reason for the cancellation. “It’s too big a controversy for a neighborhood festival,” said a member of the organizing committee in an interview with “Blick”. There was no more detailed explanation. Lukewarm would have expected their performance two days before the concert. Singer Dominik Plumettaz made the cancellation public on Instagram and just commented: “Cancelled”
The dreadlock debate
Just a month ago, the band faced the same controversy. Her concert at the Brasserie Lorraine in Bern was canceled. Visitors are said to have felt “uncomfortable” because white band members wear dreadlocks. The accusation: “cultural appropriation”. Plumettaz defended the band. Lauwarm sees itself as a group that draws inspiration from “different cultures”.
Then, on August 19, it hit an Austrian musician. Mario Parizek was not allowed to appear in the Zurich bar “Gleis”. The reason? As a white musician, he wears dreadlocks. “Congratulations to the track for this more or less fascist attitude,” he wrote on Instagram. Parizek grew up in a “right-wing” village and protested against politics with his dreadlocks.
cultural appropriation
Since the incidents, a debate about the term “cultural appropriation” has flared up in Switzerland. A difficult discussion. Pop critic Jens Balzer explained in an interview with “Deutschlandfunk” that culture is always based on appropriation. However, it is important to keep in mind that there are still “relations of exploitation”. He rejects a “blanket prohibition culture”.
+++ This article first appeared on musikexpress.de +++