SABC’s 5fm flights advert supporting “cultural boycott” of Israel
- 03 February 2011
Starting today, a 30-second recording by Dave Randall, lead guitarist
of the UK dance band, Faithless, will begin broadcasting on SABC’s
5fm.
Randall belongs to the prominent music group, Faithless – who have
popular tracks such as “Insomnia” and “We Come 1”. Faithless is
currently on tour in South Africa: performing in Cape Town on the 04th
of February and in Johannesburg on the 05th of February 2011.
Both Maxi Jazz, front man of Faithless, and Dave Randall are vocal
supporters of the cultural boycott of Israel and refuse to play in
Israel.
In 2010, amidst much public attention, Faithless cancelled their
scheduled Israel gig. This came after being called-on and urged by
Palestinian groups to support the cultural boycott of Israel. On
canceling their show, Maxi Jazz had this to say about playing in
Israel and on the suffering he saw:
“I feel deeply that I should not be sending even tacit signals that
this is either 'normal' or 'ok'. It's neither and I cannot support
it.”
Other artists to have recently cancelled appearances in Israel
include: Carlos Santana, Elvis Costello, Gil Scott-Heron, Ken Loach,
Dustin Hoffman, Meg Ryan, and Massive Attack.
The audio recorded message by the Faithless member will be broadcast
on South Africa’s popular radio station, 5fm, that currently has a
following of over 2 million listeners. The radio message from Randall
states:
“Hi, I'm Dave Randall of Faithless. Twenty years ago, I would not have
played in Apartheid South Africa. Today, I refuse to play in Israel.
Be on the right side of history. Don't entertain Apartheid.
Join the international boycott of Israel.
I support www.southafricanartistsagainstapartheid.com"
The 30-second audio recording has been incorporated into a music video
on the video-sharing platform, YouTube, making it further available to
a wide, international audience. Find it here:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpE5AjsBiqw
If you would like a copy of the audio recording, to sample or to
broadcast it yourself, kindly contact:
info@southafricanartistsagainstapartheid.com
ISSUED BY THE SOUTH AFRICAN ARTISTS AGAINST APARTHEID COLLECTIVE (
www.southafricanartistsagainstapartheid.com)
