Elton John dedicates show to Chinese artist Ai

Elton John dedicates show to Chinese artist Ai

http://dawn.com/2012/11/26/elton-john-dedicates-show-to-chinese-artist-ai/

BEIJING:Pop icon Elton John publicly dedicated his only concert in Beijing to Chinese artist and political critic Ai Weiwei, sending a murmur of shock through an audience accustomed to tight censorship of entertainment.    

Minutes into a more than two-hour show Sunday night, John told the audience that the performance was dedicated ”to the spirit and talent of Ai Weiwei,” according to several audience members.

They said the crowd rumbled in recognition that Ai remains a touchy subject for the Chinese government.

An internationally acclaimed sculptor and installation artist, Ai has used his art and his renown to draw attention to social injustice. He was detained for nearly three months last year, and he remains barred from leaving China.

Ai and John met each other briefly on Sunday before the concert. ”I super like him,” Ai said on his feed on Twitter, which is banned in China but on which he has 180,000 followers.

China-based online media sites reported on John’s Beijing show, as they did on a Friday night performance in Shanghai, but they did not report John’s remark about Ai.

The Chinese government exercises tight control of live performances, requiring artists to submit detailed lists of songs, casts and crew members before approval is given. Censors further tightened scrutiny after singer Bjork shouted ”Tibet, Tibet” at the close of a song titled ”Declare Independence” at a Shanghai performance in 2008.

Malaysian Islamic party urges Elton John show ban

Malaysian Islamic party urges Elton John show ban

http://www.france24.com/en/20121127-malaysian-islamic-party-urges-elton-john-show-ban

Elton John performs during his concert in Beijing on November 25. An Islamic political party on Tuesday urged the government of predominantly Muslim Malaysia to ban a concert by John, saying the openly gay British pop icon promotes "immoral" values.
AFP - An Islamic political party on Tuesday urged the government of predominantly Muslim Malaysia to ban a concert by Elton John, saying the openly gay British pop icon promotes "immoral" values.

John, who is popular in Malaysia, is scheduled to perform on Thursday at a resort outside the capital Kuala Lumpur.

"This concert must be cancelled. Artists who are involved in gay and lesbian activities must not be allowed to perform in Malaysia as they will promote the wrong values," Nasrudin Hassan Tantawi, chief of the youth wing of the opposition Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), told AFP.

The legendary singer-songwriter, who is on the Asian leg of a worldwide tour, performed in Malaysia last November to a sell-out crowd despite a similar protest from the Islamic party.

The 65-year-old singer was married to his Canadian partner David Furnish, 49, in a civil ceremony in England in 2005. On Christmas Day 2010 they became parents to a child conceived using a donor egg and born to a surrogate mother.

Nasrudin said PAS did not plan any street protests to oppose the concert, but "will instead demand that authorities cancel the immoral performance to protect our society from social degradation".

On Monday, John courted controversy during a performance in China by dedicating his Beijing show to Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei.

PAS often protests concerts by Western acts, saying they promote promiscuity and corrupt the minds of youngsters.

The party is a key member of an opposition alliance led by Anwar Ibrahim that hopes to unseat Malaysia's long-ruling coalition in elections that must be called by mid-2013.

Homosexuality has long been taboo in Malaysia, where 60 percent of the population is Muslim and sodomy is a crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison.