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Björk Stands For Independence

05th March 2008 | by Aidan Williamson

Icelandic siren Björk has clarified her position after several controversies surrounding remarks during her concerts in Shanghai and Tokyo, and it involves zero back-peddling.

Tokyo:

Björk dedicates the song "Declare Independence" - taken from her recent album "Volta" - to Kosovo, which on February 17, 2008, signed a declaration citing their independence from Serbia, a declaration which has now been recognised by 21 other countries. (including the U.S and U.K) The problem being though, that Serbia - the country they have thrown off as their leaders - have explicitly denied recognition of said independence and seem more than a little frosty to anyone who does.

Shanghai:

The footage above shows Björk again dedicating the song "Declare Independence" to a nation, only this time it's Tibet, an ever controversial issue with the Chinese government, which they do not take too kindly to being raised on their own soil.

Björk issued the following statement to clarify her position, "I have been asked by many for a statement after dedicating my song 'Declare Independence' to both Kosovo and Tibet on different occasions. I would like to put importance on that I am not a politician, I am first and last a musician and as such I feel my duty to try to express the whole range of human emotions. The urge for declaring independence is just one of them but an important one we all feel at some times in our lives. This song was written more with the personal in mind but the fact that it has translated to its broadest meaning, the struggle of a suppressed nation, gives me much pleasure. I would like to wish all individuals and nations good luck in their battle for independence. Justice!"

Such a stance got her dropped from the line-up of the Serbian EXIT festival after Björk refused to apologise for the remarks, her management forwarded on the demands of the festival organisers to the media.

"We hope Bjork does not relate to Kosovo on other concerts here in Europe, nor in her interviews, because if she does we need to cancel the concert; if this happens, we may as well look for some other artist... This is a very sensitive issue." wrote EXIT's general manager Bojan Boäkovi.

As such Björk will no longer be appearing at the festival, but we're such than The Sex Pistols' John Lydon will be able to bring a huge amount of grace and dignity on behalf of Europe in her place.