Bonnaroo 2018 - Saturday
Moses Sumney at Bonnaroo 2018 (more by Alison Green)

Moses Sumney drops off Montreal Jazz Fest over controversial show with slave songs

Moses Sumney was scheduled to perform at the Montreal Jazz Festival tonight (7/3), but he pulled out after learning the festival booked multiple nights of the much-protested show SLĀV, “in which a majority-white group of singers, lead by a white Québécois director, sing African-American slave songs, sometimes dressed as field slaves and cotton pickers,” Moses wrote on Instagram. “When I learned that the festival continued to defend this show publicly, even after adamant protests — during which one of the show goers (the majority of which were, of course, white) slapped a woman of color protesting the show — I knew that I could not present my music at this same festival in good conscience,” he continued. You can read his full statement below. Before cancelling, Moses himself had called out the festival on Twitter last week:

https://twitter.com/MosesSumney/status/1011373258623651843

Instead of playing the festival, Moses will perform his own Montreal show at La Sala Rossa tonight with Un Blonde.

In a statement, Jazz Fest defended SLĀV, saying: “We are truly fortunate that artists as talented and recognized on the five continents as Betty Bonifassi and Robert Lepage – in his very first collaboration – have chosen the festival to present this show as a world premiere. Before subjecting them to trial by public opinion, we firmly believe that we must wait and witness the show they will present to us all.” The statement also added that for 39 years, Jazz Fest “has been synonymous with a global village where there is no race, no gender, no religion and all human beings are equal.”

Some may remember Betty Bonifassi from the soundtrack of The Triplets of Belleville or the band Beast.

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