After the Brasserie Lorraine in Bern, a Zurich cultural venue also canceled a performance by a white Rasta musician. The debate about cultural appropriation continues.
Mario Parizek should have played in Zurich but was asked not to perform.
The debate about cultural appropriation is richer by a chapter: In Zurich, a cultural venue canceled the concert of a white musician wearing dreadlocks. The Austrian Mario Parizek should have played in the “Das Gleis” bar in Zurich’s customs house on Tuesday, but the concert was canceled at short notice. That reported first «Züri Today». The step was justified by the fact that as a white musician he wears rastas, Parizek said in a video on social networks, making the incident public.
The musician certifies that those responsible have a “more or less fascist attitude” and obviously feels misunderstood. He got his dreadlocks when he was 13 because he grew up “in a fairly right-wing village” and wanted to show the people there that there were other people, the musician says in his video. “Today I’m discriminated against by the left corner,” says Parizek and sarcastically claps his hands in the video. “I have no words for it.”
Organizers responded to feedback
The Zurich bar contradicts the representation in part. “We didn’t cancel this concert because of his Rastas, but because of the discomfort of our fellow human beings,” write those responsible for “Gleis” in a post on Instagram. In the run-up to the performance, corresponding messages were received, including from people from the local team. Out of consideration for this, the decision was made to cancel the concert – under great time pressure and despite different opinions.
According to the “Gleis”, the keyword “cultural appropriation” was also mentioned in the exchange. Those responsible do not yet know how the culture bar in the cooperatively organized, decidedly left-wing customs house should position itself in this area. “As a collective, we don’t yet have a stance on this,” they state in their statement. They announce that they will discuss the topic with all interested parties as soon as possible.
However, the fact that Mario Parizek is venting his anger on social networks has already forced the organizers to make a public statement. In it they state that the musician was repeatedly offered an “open dialogue”. However, the artist refused, “sometimes with insults”. On the other hand, as the “track” mentions in a smug postscript, Parizek accepted an apology in the form of financial compensation.
The Gleis restaurant in the Zollhaus development, a project by the Kalkbreite Cooperative on Langstrasse.
Cancellation in Bern causes a shake of the head
A reflection on the subject has been underway in Switzerland for several weeks. The trigger was the concert by the dialect band Lauwarm in Bern’s cultural venue Brasserie Lorraine. Five white men with dreadlocks playing reggae music made some concert-goers uncomfortable. After feedback from the audience, the brasserie canceled the concert that same evening.
Rasta hairstyles and reggae music are fundamentally reserved for indigenous Jamaicans, was the reasoning. Because their ancestors experienced exclusion and racism through colonization and oppression, which is the subject of reggae.
The argument that white reggae musicians are guilty of cultural appropriation provoked irritation and consternation even in left-wing circles. The Bernese musicians also defended themselves against the accusation. It is not about appropriating a culture or about provocation, but about inspiration from other cultures, the band boss Dominik Plumettaz replied in an interview with the NZZ.
In addition to a wave of outrage, the incident also triggered a discussion about racism, power and commercialization. Hardly a day went by without a new – or supposedly new – aspect of the topic being highlighted. It remains to be seen whether more will be added after the cancellation in Zurich. In any case, the need for discussion does not seem to have been exhausted.