A report by Simon Cable for The Instances of London.
Bob Marley’s son has weighed in on feedback made by the comic Lenny Henry about lack of variety at Glastonbury.
Ziggy Marley, a musician who was performing on the occasion, mentioned when requested about Henry’s remarks that he had “stopped pores and skin color”. Marley, 53, informed TalkTV: “You understand, I don’t actually deal with that any extra. We have a look at humanity. We’re all human beings.
“For everyone it’s going to be so nice to get again collectively and take heed to dwell music, so it’s going to be a superb vibe.”
Henry, who co-founded Comedian Reduction, mentioned that he felt there have been some locations the place individuals nonetheless “don’t combine”. He mentioned: “I’m at all times shocked by the lack of black and brown faces at festivals. I feel, ‘Wow, that’s nonetheless very a lot a dominant tradition factor’.
“It’s fascinating to look at Glastonbury and have a look at the viewers and never see any black individuals there.”
In a “variety assertion” on the Glastonbury web site, the organisers famous that “a lot of the social panorama has modified” because the first competition in 1970 and mentioned that Glastonbury had “developed with these adjustments”.
It mentioned that the “Black Lives Matter motion “has had a profound impression on us”.
Glastonbury’s first black headliner was the American singer-songwriter Curtis Mayfield in 1983. There was controversy when one other American artist, Jay-Z, was chosen to headline in 2008. Some rock followers objected to a rapper headlining the competition.
Emily Eavis, co-organiser of the competition, admitted Stormzy’s efficiency in 2019 was “just a little bit late”. The grime musician and rapper turned the primary black solo British headliner within the competition’s historical past when he carried out at Worthy Farm.