Over the last few weeks, the Irish Rap group ‘Kneecap’ has received extensive news coverage since their performance at Coachella this past month. Toward the end of their set at Coachella, the rap group called out Israel for “committing genocide against the Palestinian people” and being “enabled by the US government who arm and fund Israel despite their war crimes”. Following these comments, which were projected onto the screen behind the stage, one of the members — whose stage name is Mo Chara — stated that “the Palestinian people have nowhere to go.” What was interesting was that Kneecap’s entire set was not streamed on Coachella’s YouTube page, which had been streaming other performances.
It is important to note that all of the sets which occurred in the tent that Kneecap performed in during Week Two of Coachella were not streamed. However, the rap group has also said that their messages about Palestine were supposed to appear on screen during their streamed concert during week one, but never appeared. This act brings up an important question about why companies like Goldenvoice, who helped organize the event, would invite a group that is known for being political if they were going to cut any political mentions from their set.
Since its beginning, Kneecap has been centered in political activism. The band, which is from Northern Ireland, has always been focused on the Northern Irish working class, specifically Irish language rights and the reunification of Ireland with the intention of expelling British control. Even their name is taken from the act of “kneecapping,” or shooting someone in the knees to disable them. This violent act was incredibly infamous with Irish Republicans and Ulster loyalists who were in opposition during the Northern Ireland Conflict.
Furthermore, many, if not all, of Kneecap’s songs have references to political activism. Specifically, songs like “H.O.O.D” and “C.E.A.R.T.A” are two examples of their commentary about the Irish working class with even the song name “CERTA” meaning “rights” in Gaelic. With these things in mind, it’s impossible to separate Kneecap from political activism so the fact that they have been getting criticism for being so outspoken recently is quite ridiculous since that is the entire foundation of the band.
Their set in April at Coachella gained a lot of attention, specifically negative attention from Sharon Osbourne, TV personality and music manager, who called for “the group’s work VISAs to be revoked” and that “the band took their performance to a different level by incorporating aggressive political statements.” However, this again brings up a pressing question: of What was Coachella expecting when they invited a historically politically active group? All of the discourse from the media’s side surrounding this situation displays a deep schism in what they think music should be. I think it’s very interesting that people are asking for “VISAs to be revoked” and accusing people of “aggressive statements” when that has been something that has been a part of music forever. It’s an especially interesting statement coming from the wife of Ozzy Osbourne who wrote and sang the song “War Pigs.”
It is time for people to stop saying that music has gotten “too political.” Music has always been political. It is outrageous for organizations like Coachella to invite a notable political group to their event and then disable them to speak their opinions, which is something that they do in every single one of their songs. We need to remember the long history of music and specifically live concerts being used for political statements. Since it is a moment that can reach thousands of people, making statements at a concert or on the radio station makes a lot of sense.
It is also important to critique the fact that, while the Coachella organization’s decision to invite Kneecap to perform reflects their positive opinion of the band, they clearly didn’t do thorough research on what the lyrics were about. By blocking their political comments, Coachella is perpetuating a common trait in fans of listening but not truly LISTENING.
In response to the criticisms of their performance, Kneecap released a statement saying “statements aren’t aggressive, murdering 20,000 children is though” pointing out the fact that while people can say what they want about the words being said, Israel is actively killing thousands of children.
There will never be a world where music is not political; politics are what keep music going. People are their most creative when they are passionate about something. Groups like Kneecap and many others use their music to inspire change in the world at a time when it can be very difficult to get through to people in other media forms. By popularizing the Gaelic language through rap, they have revolutionized the popularity of the language and pointed out oppression from the British. It is only fair and actually expected that they are going to point out oppression when they see it being done in other places like Palestine.
Music will always be political, and people like Sharon Osborne aren’t going to stop that by revoking work visas; instead, it will only add to the fire.