As Jake Newby told you in our previous post:
With backing from a live Icelandic brass section (the ingeniously named Wonderbrass), songs such as the horn heavy ‘Wanderlust’ demonstrated Björk’s gift for spectacle and her incredible delivery, before she closed out the set with the anthemic ‘Declare Independence’, chanting the name of a huge piece of real estate west of Sichuan and Yunnan amongst a hail of streamers.
The Deutsche Presse Agentur confirms:
[Bjork] shouted “Tibet, Tibet!” followed by “Raise your flag!” towards the end of her final song, “Declare independence.”
However, the DPA report was also quick to add:
Her protest apparently went unnoticed by the majority of an estimated 3,000 people at the Shanghai International Gymnastics Centre.
… which makes us wonder if the use of the word “shout” by DPA was not an exaggeration. According to Danwei‘s Adam Schokora who was also present at the concert:
At the end of the song, just before walking off stage, Bjork left the crowd with two words: “Tibet…..Tibet”……fully audible, in English.
Your correspondent hasn’t been able to find a reliable video clip of this yet; however, I can attest to it happening because I was there.
As it turns out, Bjork’s “Tibet” was not totally lost on the Chinese crowd (which anecdotal reports suggest comprised about half of the audience). Here’s a collection of comments by Chinese netizens on Douban and Tianya [Translation by Danwei]:
“If she was yelling free Shanghai, that would be great! Free Shanghai! Free Shanghai!”
“Those who put on the show should be severely fined and not allowed to bring this kind of trash in for performances.”
“Call the relevant authorities! Be gone with her! What a bitch! Fuck!”
“Doesn’t surprise me that she’d do something like this.”
“Very yellow, very violent!”
“I don’t think there is any issue, so what if she sang a few lines about Tibet, we don’t need to berate the woman to death. Is our government really that sensitive?”
“I don’t understand, why do Western stars give a shit about Tibet. Isn’t Tibet ours?! Mind your own business!”
“Wow, the nerve! Where did she get the courage to do this! Weirdo!”
“I like Bjork, it’s ok for her to have a different point of view, but for her to do this is disrespectful to fans here, very selfish of her.”
A search for Bjork’s Chinese name “比约克” and “西藏” (Tibet) yielded zero results on Baidu News and only one story on Google which led to only one Chinese-language story from Deutsche Welle (“冰岛歌手比约克演唱西藏独立内容的歌”).
Bjork had originally dedicated the song to Greenland and the Faroe Islands. Last week at her Tokyo concert, Bjork sang the song to show her support for Kosovar independence, which subsequently led organisers of a Serbian music festival planned for July to drop her from the lineup.
Bjork’s Tibetan stance should come as no surprise. She was a performer in the inaugural Tibetan Freedom Concert in San Francisco way back in 1996, as well as the following year in New York City.
A spokesperson with Emma Entertainment has pleaded ignorance of Bjork’s actions and refused further comment. In the meanwhile, it looks like heads are going to roll at the state censorship body, and Bjork is not going to be back in China for a while.
And here’s the original music video for the song Declare Independence, followed by the highly subversive lyrics of the song below. You really wonder if someone actually approved this song for the programme line-up or if Bjork sprang a surprise:
Declare independence!
Don’t let them do that to you!
Declare independence!
Don’t let them do that to you!
Declare independence!
Don’t let them do that to you!
Declare independence!
Don’t let them do that to you!
Start your own currency!
Make your own stamp
Protect your language
Declare independence
Don’t let them do that to you
Declare independence
Don’t let them do that to you
[x4] Make your own flag!
[x6] Raise your flag!
Declare independence!
Don’t let them do that to you!
Declare independence!
Don’t let them do that to you!
Damn colonists
Ignore their patronizing
Tear off their blindfolds
Open their eyes
Declare independence!
Don’t let them do that to you!
Declare independence!
Don’t let them do that to you!
With a flag and a trumpet
Go to the top of your highest mountain!
[x6] Raise your flag!
Declare independence!
Don’t let them do that to you!
Declare independence!
Don’t let them do that to you!
Raise the flag!
Previously on Shanghaiist
Björk in Shanghai: Our thoughts, your thoughts
Updates:
Björk’s “Tibet, Tibet” caught on Youtube
The fallout from Björk’s “Tibet” call
Photo of Bjork by [[ranciedad]]
