{"id":40366,"date":"2019-08-04T22:23:39","date_gmt":"2019-08-04T22:23:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=40366"},"modified":"2019-08-04T22:23:39","modified_gmt":"2019-08-04T22:23:39","slug":"dutch-band-cancels-lebanon-gig-in-support-of-local-group","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=40366","title":{"rendered":"Dutch band cancels Lebanon gig in support of local group"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\nBEIRUT:\u00a0A Dutch band said on Sunday it had canceled its gig at a top Lebanon festival in solidarity with a Lebanese group pulled from the event after threats over alleged offense to Christians.<\/p>\n

\nWithin Temptation joined other activists in protest after festival organizers last week pulled Lebanese indie group Mashrou\u2019 Leila from the program over fears of \u201cbloodshed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nThe Dutch symphonic-rock outfit had been set to play on Wednesday at the event in the Christian-majority seaside town of Byblos.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cWe have decided to cancel our show in Byblos in solidarity with Mashrou\u2019 Leila and in support of tolerance, freedom of speech and expression,\u201d they said in a statement on Facebook.<\/p>\n

\nThey made the decision after learning the festival had withdrawn Mashrou\u2019 Leila from the program \u201cdue to security reasons after religious fanatics demanded their performance to be canceled followed by violent threats,\u201d they said. Lebanese Christian clerics have accused Mashrou\u2019 Leila, whose singer is openly gay, of offending Christians in two of their songs titled \u201cIdols\u201d and \u201cDjin.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nCritics on social media also threatened to attack the concert if the Lebanese band went ahead with the performance on Aug. 9.<\/p>\n

\nOn Sunday, the festival\u2019s artistic director said he was saddened to have lost another band but did not regret last week\u2019s decision to cancel Mashrou\u2019 Leila.<\/p>\n

\n

\n\u201cWe have never before canceled a performance … If we did it this time, albeit with an enraged heart, it\u2019s because we absolutely had to.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\nNaji Baz, Director, music festival<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n\u201cThe security of our artists and audience is our absolute priority,\u201d Naji Baz told AFP.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cWe have never before canceled a performance … If we did it this time, albeit with an enraged heart, it\u2019s because we absolutely had to,\u201d he said. Mashrou\u2019 Leila has said it \u201csincerely regrets causing offense to anyone\u2019s beliefs\u201d but denied that any of its songs were religiously offensive.<\/p>\n

\nRights groups have denounced an increase in restrictions on freedom of expression, while activists and fans have protested in the street and online.<\/p>\n

\nReligiously diverse Lebanon is one of the Middle East\u2019s more liberal countries, but its myriad of recognized sects still wield major influence over social and cultural affairs.<\/p>\n

\nMashrou\u2019 Leila has often played in Lebanon since forming in 2008 while its members were still students at the American University of Beirut.<\/p>\n

\nBut it has created waves in the religiously conservative Middle East.<\/p>\n

\nAfter a Mashrou\u2019 Leila concert in Egypt in 2017, at which members of the audience waved a rainbow flag, Egyptian authorities launched a crackdown on the country\u2019s LGBT community.<\/p>\n

\nIts concerts in Jordan were canceled in 2016 and 2017.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BEIRUT:\u00a0A Dutch band said on Sunday it had canceled its gig at a top Lebanon festival in solidarity with a Lebanese group pulled from the event after threats over alleged offense to Christians. Within Temptation joined other activists in protest after festival organizers last week pulled Lebanese indie group Mashrou\u2019 Leila from the program over…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":40367,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=40366"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40366\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/40367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=40366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=40366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=40366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}