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Always a reason for debate about cultural appropriation: dreadlocks (symbolic photo)
Photo:
MATIJA KEBER/Getty Images
Last week, the Swiss band Lauwarm had to cancel a concert in Bern - now a heated debate has broken out in Switzerland.
The Swiss Mund-Art Band stepped in at short notice for the performance of another group.
But some concert visitors did not seem to like it: several people from the audience approached the organizer during the concert because they felt uncomfortable about the performance, the organizer described.
The talks were about the accusation of cultural appropriation, i.e. about the band adorning themselves with symbols that originally stood for oppression and the fight for freedom: visitors were disturbed that the band, made up of mostly white musicians, played Jamaican music and wore some African clothing and dreadlocks.
The organizer had ended the performance prematurely.
Incomprehension about concert cancellation
In consultation with the band, it was finally decided to end the performance - which in turn caused a lot of misunderstanding.
If you cancel the band's concert with this reason, you can also delete focaccia and coffee from the menu, after all, they also come from other cultures, wrote an Internet user.
The band also defends itself against the accusation of using a racist practice.
"We treat all cultures with respect," she wrote on her Instagram account.
"But we also stand by the music we play, our appearance and the way we are." One must discuss the definition and difference between inspiration and appropriation.
"We don't claim that we did the right thing by canceling the concert," the restaurant where the musicians performed justifies itself in a statement on Facebook.
However, just letting it continue felt wrong too.
However, they do not find "that members of the band or white people are automatically racists".
What is cultural appropriation?
This means that people use a culture that is not their own and whose potential for power is inferior to their own.
Music, clothing or symbols are often twisted during the transfer or robbed of their historical meaning.
Blacks in particular identify with dreadlocks, for example.
The hairstyle is associated with resistance to colonialism, racism and oppression.
In March, the Fridays for Future movement in Germany disinvited the white musician Ronja Maltzahn, who was supposed to perform at a demonstration in Hanover, because of her dreadlocks.
evh/dpa
