(Credits: Far Out / Shin Katan)

Jonny Greenwood and Dudu Tassa have broken their silence after the duo’s planned UK concerts were cancelled following a campaign from the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement.

In 2023, the Radiohead guitarist released the collaborative album Jarak Qaribak with Israeli musician Dudu Tassa. The duo were set to take the album to Bristol on June 23rd and Hackney on June 25th, but these shows have now been pulled.

The cancellation was first announced by the BDS, who claimed on Instagram that the concerts “would have whitewashed Israel’s genocide against 2.3m Palestinians in Gaza and underlying settler-colonial apartheid regime”.

They referenced Greenwood and Tassa’s concert last year in Tel Aviv and alleged Tassa has “repeatedly entertained genocidal Israeli forces in between these massacres of Palestinians in Gaza, willingly acting as a cultural ambassador for apartheid Israel.”

Greenwood previously defended their choice to play in Israel amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza, stating, “No art is as ‘important’ as stopping all the death and suffering around us. How can it be? But doing nothing seems like a worse option. And silencing Israeli artists for being born Jewish in Israel doesn’t seem like any way to reach an understanding between the two sides of this apparently endless conflict.”

⁠Now, they have released a joint lengthy statement explaining why their UK shows can’t go ahead and cited safety concerns, the duo began, “With regret, our shows in Bristol & London, due to take place on June 23rd & 25th have been cancelled. The venues and their blameless staff have received enough credible threats to conclude that it’s not safe to proceed; promoters of the shows can’t be expected to fund our, or our audience’s, protection.”

They also attacked campaigners, writing, “Forcing musicians not to perform and denying people who want to hear them an opportunity to do so is self-evidently a method of censorship and silencing. Intimidating venues into pulling our shows won’t help achieve the peace and justice everyone in the Middle East deserves. This cancellation will be hailed as a victory by the campaigners behind it, but we see nothing to celebrate and don’t find that anything positive has been achieved.”

Greenwood and Tassa then highlighted the controversy surrounding Kneecap, who have received support from over 100 fellow artists amid an ongoing police investigation into comments made by the group on-stage, stating, “We have no judgement to pass on Kneecap but note how sad it is that those supporting their freedom of expression are the same ones most determined to restrict ours.”

The statement concluded: “We feel great admiration, love and respect for all the performers in this band, especially the Arab musicians and singers who have shown amazing bravery and conviction in contributing to our first record, and in touring with us. Their artistic achievements are toweringly important, and we hope one day you will get to hear us play these songs – love songs mostly – together with us, somewhere, somehow. If that happens, it won’t be a victory for any country, religion, or political cause. It’ll be a victory for our shared love and respect of the music – and of each other.”

The statement is available to read in full below.

“With regret, our shows in Bristol & London, due to take place on June 23rd & 25th have been cancelled. The venues and their blameless staff have received enough credible threats to conclude that it’s not safe to proceed; promoters of the shows can’t be expected to fund our, or our audience’s, protection.
The campaign which has successfully stopped the concerts insist that “this is not censorship” and “this isn’t about silencing music or attacking individual artists.” But its organizers can’t have it both ways.

“Forcing musicians not to perform and denying people who want to hear them an opportunity to do so is self-evidently a method of censorship and silencing. Intimidating venues into pulling our shows won’t help achieve the peace and justice everyone in the Middle East deserves. This cancellation will be hailed as a victory by the campaigners behind it, but we see nothing to celebrate and don’t find that anything positive has been achieved.

“The record we are touring features singers from Syria, Lebanon, Kuwait, and Iraq. The group’s ancestral and musical roots are centuries old: in Iraq, Yemen, Syria, Turkey, and all across the Middle East – each of the members brought together by a shared love of Arabic song, regardless of where exactly they all happened to be born. The silencing campaign has demanded that the venues “reaffirm (their) commitment to ethical, inclusive cultural programming.” Just not this particular mix of cultures, apparently.

“We believe art exists above and beyond politics; that art that seeks to establish the common identity of musicians across borders in the Middle East should be encouraged, not decried; and that artists should be free to express themselves regardless of their citizenship or their religion – and certainly regardless of the decisions made by their governments.

“This project has always had a difficult, narrow channel to navigate. We find ourselves in the odd position of being condemned by both ends of the political spectrum. For some on the right, we’re playing the ‘wrong’ kind of music – too inclusive, too aware of the rich and beautiful diversity of Middle Eastern culture. For some on the left, we’re only playing it to absolve ourselves of our collective sins. We dread the weaponisation of this cancellation by reactionary figures as much as we lament its celebration by some progressives.

“And yet, meekly agreeing to be silenced without some response feels wrong. As the artist’s statement supporting Kneecap says: “As artists, we feel the need to register our opposition to any political repression of artistic freedom … In a democracy, no political figures or political parties should have the right to dictate who does and does not play at music festivals or gigs that will be enjoyed by thousands of people.” Nor should anyone. We have no judgement to pass on Kneecap but note how sad it is that those supporting their freedom of expression are the same ones most determined to restrict ours.

“We agree completely with people who ask: ‘how can this be more important than what’s happening in Gaza and Israel?’ They’re right – it isn’t. How could it be? What, in anyone’s upcoming cultural life, is?

“We feel great admiration, love and respect for all the performers in this band, especially the Arab musicians and singers who have shown amazing bravery and conviction in contributing to our first record, and in touring with us. Their artistic achievements are toweringly important, and we hope one day you will get to hear us play these songs – love songs mostly – together with us, somewhere, somehow. If that happens, it won’t be a victory for any country, religion, or political cause. It’ll be a victory for our shared love and respect of the music – and of each other.

“Jonny Greenwood, Dudu Tassa and the musicians”.