Rocker Devendra Banhart cancels Tel Aviv concert
Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 06/15/2010 - 15:00
Yet another musician -- American indie rocker Devendra Banhart -- canceled his Wednesday/Thursday Tel Aviv concerts, joining the barrage of artists still angry about the Flotilla incident. This would have been his third visit to Israel, according to JTA, which reports that "Banhart joins such artists as Elvis Costello and the Pixies to cancel recent concerts in Israel."
Sounds like a trend, right?
And Jewish machers are starting to take notice; today B'nai B'rith's executive vice president Dan Mariaschin, in a Jewish Week op-ed, wrote that "more musicians seem to be trumpeting the latest Palestinian efforts to undermine movement in the peace process as they cancel scheduled tour dates in Israel"
Cute phrase, Dan.
One promoter, Mariaschin writes, has termed the anti-Israel trend among rockers and other pop idols "cultural terrorism."
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this blog claims that devendra banhart is "joining the barrage of artists still angry about the Flotilla incident", yet his actual statement (quoted in the original jta article) doesn't mention the flotilla incident at all. the boycott movement actually preceded the flotilla incident by years, and cites as it's reason d'etre 'israeli apartheid' rather than any single incident. the other two artists mentioned as examples, elvis costello and the pixies, cancelled their concerts well before the flotilla.
also, contrary to this blog, banhart's sentiments, agree with them or not, can hardly be characterized by 'anger'. he declares his love for the land and people of israel, and regretfully cancels his third israeli appearance due to his desire for his concert to not be read as any sort of political statement, further stating that he hopes to return soon.
but perhaps the most glaring error in this blog is the title, which refers to banhart as a 'rocker', when he would more accurately be classified as a freak-folk artist.
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