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Lack of distancing from Putin's war: Nina Kraviz removed from several festival programs

2022-05-24T19:17:31.616Z


She is the best-known Russian representative of the international techno scene. But some festivals no longer want Nina Kraviz to hang up: she only made cloudy comments about the war in Ukraine.


Enlarge image

Nina Kraviz (at a performance in 2019): »Terrible events are mixed with everyday things«

Photo: Pablo Gallardo/Redferns/Getty Images

It's a problem that used to be found more in the field of classical music, where a conductor like Valeri Gergiev or a singer like Anna Netrebko was asked about their attitude towards the war and Vladimir Putin after Russian troops invaded Ukraine.

But why should different moral criteria apply in the techno scene than in classical music?

Now the Russian Nina Kraviz, who has long been known and celebrated in the West as a DJ and producer, has come under criticism.

Originally from Irkutsk, Siberia, Kraviz made a name for herself on the Moscow rave scene in the noughties, releasing records on a London label and being named DJ of the Year by Mixmag magazine in 2017.

So Kraviz is probably one of the most prominent Russians in Western pop music in the broadest sense.

Two days later, when the Russian attack on Ukraine began on February 24, Kraviz posted a video in which she wrote the Russian word for "peace!" in pencil on a piece of paper and added the message "I'm praying for peace." .

For weeks, the video was the last word on Nina Kraviz's social media channels, which the musician had previously used very regularly.

In the meantime, a certain disappointment was building that Nina Kraviz - unlike other prominent representatives of Russian show business such as rapper Oxxxymiron or entertainer Maxim Galkin - did not explicitly oppose the war.

On the other hand, older statements by Kraviz on social networks were brought up, which were interpreted in such a way that Kraviz was a supporter of Vladimir Putin.

There was the 2016 Putin meme with the message "Don't underestimate a Russki".

And there was the picture of her holding a Putin standee and a gun with a flower sticking out of the barrel.

Kraviz posted it on April 14, 2014, almost a month after the Russian president hailed the annexation of Crimea.

As early as March 3, just a week after Kraviz's peace video, a post was first posted on a new Instagram page titled @ninakravizlovesputin.

The biography notes for the site include "Nina Kraviz is pro-Putin" and that the techno community takes it upon itself to expose "the snake that is beneath us."

Among those who have openly criticized Nina Kraviz is her Ukrainian colleague DJ Nastia, who wrote in a lengthy Instagram post that Kraviz was a "pro-Putin patriot full of imperial bullshit."

British DJ Dave Clarke pointed out in a comment deleted by Kraviz under her "Peace" message that Kraviz djed during the pandemic for oligarchs who are now affected by sanctions against Russia.

In addition, he always got to know her as politically interested.

Kraviz had already told the »Focus« in 2007: »I love Russia, and I can't understand why so many people are talking bad about our country.« Society »has gone through a serious illness, communism.

Recovery takes time, but the healing process is ongoing.«

As the French newspaper "Le Monde" learned in March, Kraviz' booking agency in London had tried to allay concerns from festival organizers at the time.

According to this, artists like Kraviz and others feared endangering the relatives who stayed at home with too radical words against the war.

But after an article appeared in the American "Time" magazine on May 13, in which the dispute that was dividing the electronic music scene was presented in a larger form beyond the specialist circles for the first time, the reassuring news no longer caught on.

A week ago, the Dutch distribution company Clone Distribution, which had distributed the music from Nina Kraviz's Trip Recordings label, decided to terminate the business relationship.

They explained this in a lengthy statement, which said Kraviz had not responded to offers of an in-person interview.

Because she doesn't take sides, she wants to continue as an artist as before.

This is of course her right.

But you see her silence as a "sign of double standards and disinterest," which in turn is typical of the "toxic positivity and toxic ignorance" of the scene, in which Clone does not want to participate.

As a result, Nina Kraviz also broke her silence.

On her Instagram account, she published a lengthy statement in which she complained that terrible events were being mixed up with everyday things.

As a person, musician and artist, she is very moved by the things that are happening in the world: "It's repulsive how my country's relations with Ukraine have developed," says Kraviz.

She is against any form of violence and prays for peace: "It pains me to see innocent people dying."

She doesn't want anything to do with politics, she understands neither politics nor the social processes that they trigger, the message continues, which ends with a quote from the Stoic philosopher Seneca: The dispute itself will be extinguished if one side refuses to fuel it further.

Since then, several festivals have canceled Nina Kraviz' participation.

The Detroit Movement, for which the Ukrainian Nastia is also booked, said Kraviz was "unable to play".

Kraviz's booking was also canceled at the festivals The Crave in the Netherlands and Obra in Poland.

The German festival PollerWiesen wrote about the cancellation of Kraviz: »The decision was made by us in a process of open dialogue with all parties involved«.

Feb

Source: spiegel

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