American musician pulls out of Montreal jazz fest because of controversial show
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MONTREAL — American musician Moses Sumney has pulled out of the Montreal International Jazz Festival because of a controversial show that is directed by a white man and features a white woman singing songs composed by black slaves.
Sumney says he was disappointed by the festival’s decision to book a show “in which a majority-white group of singers, led by a white Quebecois director, sing African-American slave songs, sometimes dressed as field slaves and cotton pickers.”
The musician tweeted he could not present his music at the festival in good conscience after learning it continued to defend the show publicly “even after adamant protests — during which one of the show goers (the majority of which were of course, white) slapped a woman of colour protesting the show.”
Sumney, 28, noted his festival concert was scheduled for Tuesday — “a day sandwiched between Canada Day and Independence Day, two bittersweet holidays that have long left black, brown and Indigenous voices out.”
