MADRID, June 6 \u2014 Dozens of artists have pulled out of next week\u2019s Sonar electronic music festival in Spain, protesting financial ties between its parent company and real estate investments in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories.<\/p>\n
In an open letter posted on social media, more than 60 artists \u2014 including Arca, Asia, DJ Paquita Gordon, and Shaun J. Wright \u2014 accused the private equity firm KKR of being \u201cfully complicit in the genocide committed by Israel in Gaza\u201d.<\/p>\n
Sonar \u2014 which will be held in Barcelona this year June 12-14 \u2014 is one of around 80 global events operated by Superstruct Entertainment, which has been majority-owned by KKR (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts) since October 2024.<\/p>\n
The artists are urging the festival to sever ties with KKR and to adhere to the principles of the international Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement, which seeks to financially pressure Israel into ending the occupation of the Palestinian territories.<\/p>\n
BDS accuses KKR of complicity in \u201cIsrael\u2019s genocide and colonial apartheid regime\u201d, citing the firm\u2019s stake in German media group Axel Springer.<\/p>\n
That group owns Israeli classifieds site Yad2, which BDS says features listings for real estate projects in occupied Palestinian territories.<\/p>\n
The Sonar festival said on its website that the 2024 acquisition of Superstruct shares by KKR and other investors was \u201cpurely financial\u201d and that Sonar had no say in the transaction.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe categorically condemn the genocide of the Palestinian people,\u201d the festival said in a statement, adding: \u201cAt no time have we ever sent \u2014 nor will we ever send \u2014 a single euro to KKR.\u201d<\/p>\n
Spanish Culture Minister Ernest Urtasun, a member of the far-left Sumar alliance, voiced concern last month over what he described as KKR\u2019s involvement in Spanish festivals and its business activities in \u201cillegally occupied\u201d Palestinian territories.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do not want a fund that actively contributes to the illegal occupation of Palestine to have a role in our cultural life,\u201d he told reporters.<\/p>\n
Contacted by AFP in New York, KKR did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n
Spain, Ireland and Norway officially recognised a Palestinian state in May 2024 in a coordinated decision slammed by Israel.<\/p>\n
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is one of the most outspoken critics in the European Union of Israel\u2019s military operations in Gaza. \u2014 AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MADRID, June 6 \u2014 Dozens of artists have pulled out of next week\u2019s Sonar electronic music festival in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":162030,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5312],"tags":[13658,2000,299,68204,1814,68203,104],"class_list":{"0":"post-162029","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-spain","8":"tag-boycott","9":"tag-eu","10":"tag-europe","11":"tag-kohlberg-kravis-roberts-kkr","12":"tag-palestine","13":"tag-sonar-festival","14":"tag-spain"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114634559692903789","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=162029"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162029\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}