Bjork: Raise your flag? Declare independence? "Tibet...Tibet"

Iceland's avant-garde art-rock songstress, Bjork, performed to a sold-out crowd last night at the Shanghai International Gymnastic Center; her first-ever show in Shanghai – she performed once before in Beijing, circa 1996.

Never ceasing to draw attention, Bjork closed the show with a 2nd encore performance of "Declare Independence" – a rousing power-to-the people anthem containing such lyrics as: "Declare independence!" "Don't let them do that to you!" "Start your own currency!" "Make your own stamp" "Protect your language" "Make your own flag!" "Raise your flag!"...etc. [lyrics]

You can imagine where this might be going.

At the end of the song, just before walking off stage, Bjork left the crowd with two words: "Tibet.....Tibet"......fully audible, in English.

"Declare Independence" was originally written with the Faroe Islands and Greenland in mind, not Tibet.

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 expected, online Chinese discussion boards (i.e. Douban, Tianya) are ripe with commentary with some saying "who cares" and showing support, but with most expressing shock and outrage.

A few quotable gems (translated):

"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 ***! ***!"
"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 *** 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."

It's unlikely Bjork will be performing again in China any time soon, if ever. Bravo.

This article is from Danwei.org

Read the complete post at http://www.danwei.org/music/raise_your_flag_declare_indepe.php