The Malaysian Insider :: Showbiz
The Malaysian Insider :: Showbiz |
| Elton John challenges Russian gay ban from stage Posted: 07 Dec 2013 06:35 AM PST The 66-year-old singer is the first Western star known for fighting gay prejudice to tour Russia since it adopted in June a measure making it illegal to explain same sex relationships to children. The law has already been condemned on Russian stages by superstars such as Lady Gaga and Madonna. Both now face calls from conservative lawmakers and some Orthodox Church leaders to be barred from ever entering the country again. John – openly gay and in a civil partnership with filmmaker David Furnish since 2005 – performed in Moscow yesterday and is due to play in the heart of the Muslim region of Tatarstan tonight. He had been urged by some gay rights advocates to cancel the concerts as a form of protest against President Vladimir Putin's 13-year rule. But John explained ahead of his appearances that he felt that Russia's gay and lesbian couples would feel abandoned if big-name performers did not come for visits and offer them support. Yesterday's concert in Moscow began with John – settled behind a black grand piano in a theatre popular with Russia's super-rich – reading a monologue in which he called for harmony and inclusion for all. "You've always embraced me and you have never judged me," John said in reference to a long line of visits to Moscow that began with a groundbreaking concert in 1979. That Soviet-era performance transformed John into a household name – an impact still felt in Russia to this day. John was careful not to criticise either Putin or his supporters directly for fast-tracking the measure in the span of a few short weeks. But neither did he hide his disappointment with the law as a video of the concert showed. "I am deeply saddened and shocked over the current legislation that is now in place against the (homosexual) community here in Russia," he said to a scattering of applause. "In my opinion, it is inhumane and it is isolating. Harmony is what makes a happy family and a strong society." John concluded the speech by dedicating his concert to Vladislav Tornovoi – a 23-year-old Russian whose naked body was dumped in the city of Volgograd after he had been raped with beer bottles and had his skull smashed. A witness told the police at the time of the May attack that Tornovoi was targeted for being gay. Russia's gay propaganda ban has turned into a lightning rod of criticism of Putin and what many see as his increasingly authoritarian streak. Such prominent rights campaigners as the openly gay British actor Stephen Fry have called for a boycott of February's Winter Olympic Games in Sochi while others are urging tourists to avoid Russia until the law is revoked. Such calls have usually met with tough responses from prominent pro-Kremlin lawmakers and been ridiculed on widely watched state television shows. But John's speech made barely a ripple in the Russian media and escaped condemnation from the West's usual critics in parliament. The only visible outrage came from a radical Islamist organisation that urged the authorities of Tatarstan to forbid John from performing tonight in the region's capital of Kazan. John was expected to repeat his call to end gay prejudice during tonight's performance. – AFP, December 7, 2013. |
| Jay Z leads with 9 Grammy nominations, but newcomers vie for top honours Posted: 06 Dec 2013 09:56 PM PST Jay Z picked up nominations in nine categories across pop and rap, including best pop duo performance for "Suit & Tie" with Justin Timberlake, and best rap album for his July release, "Magna Carta... Holy Grail." But the 44-year-old Brooklyn, New York-born rapper failed to land solo nods in the top Grammy categories for record, song, and album of the year, scoring only one as a producer on Lamar's "Good Kid, M.A.A.D City" record, nominated in the album of the year category. Lamar's album will face off against Sara Barielles's "The Blessed Unrest," French electro-dance duo Daft Punk's "Random Access Memories,"Taylor Swift's "Red" and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' "The Heist" for album of the year. Seattle rapper-producer duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis capped their stellar rise over the past year from the independent music scene into mainstream pop with seven nominations, including song of the year for "Same Love," featuring Mary Lambert, and the coveted best new artist category. "It feels very, very, very surreal. I don't think it's ever going to feel normal... It's something that we never ever thought was possible when we were making this album," Macklemore, whose real name is Ben Haggerty, said backstage. The duo will be facing off with Lamar, country music singer Kasey Musgraves and British singers James Blake and Ed Sheeran for the best new artist accolade, which has been won by Adele and FUN. in recent years. California rapper Lamar, 26, also picked up five nominations in the R&B and rap categories. Singer-producer Pharrell scored seven nods, including for album, record and song of the year for his work as a featured artist on Daft Punk's "Random Access Memories" and Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines." The record of the year category featured five songs that all achieved commercial and chart success this year: "Get Lucky" by Daft Punk, "Radioactive" by alt-rockers Imagine Dragons, "Royals" by Lorde, Bruno Mars' "Locked Out of Heaven" and "Blurred Lines" by Thicke, featuring T.I. and Pharrell. The Grammy Awards are the music industry's top accolades and are voted on by members of the Recording Academy for more than 80 categories spanning all genres. To be eligible for nominations this year, artists had to release their music between October 1, 2012, and September 30, 2013. The nominations for the top awards and main categories were announced during an hour-long televised concert yesterday from Los Angeles. The winners will be announced on January 26 at a live televised ceremony in Los Angeles. For the second year running, male artists dominated the nominees for the 2014 awards, while Lorde, Musgraves and Swift led the female artists with four nominations each. Lorde, the 17-year-old New Zealand newcomer whose real name is Ella Yelich O'Connor, is notable for writing her own songs, including the hit "Royals," which picked up nods for record and song of the year, as well as best pop solo performance. "This isn't the kind of thing that happens to people from New Zealand, so it feels good," the singer said backstage. Also nominated with Lorde for song of the year, a songwriters' award, are "Just Give Me a Reason" by Pink and FUN.'s Nate Ruess, Mars' "Locked Out of Heaven," Katy Perry's "Roar" and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' "Same Love." Timberlake, 32, who made a return to the musical spotlight this year after a five-year hiatus with the two-part release of "The 20/20 Experience," picked up seven nominations in the pop, R&B and rap categories, but failed to make the top three categories. His record "The 20/20 Experience - The Complete Experience," one of the year's top-selling sets, earned a best pop album nomination. Swift, 23, who has won seven Grammys, scored nominations in the country music category, including best country album for "Red." Texas native Musgraves, 25, nominated for best new artist, will compete with Swift in the country song and album categories. Notably absent from the nominees were British boy band One Direction, which has topped the Billboard 200 album chart with all three of its albums over the past year, and Grammy-winner Lady Gaga, whose August song "Applause" was eligible and scored chart success, but failed to win over Grammy voters. — Reuters, December 7, 2013. |
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