A scheduled Bjork performance in Serbia has been cancelled, but according to EXIT Festival organisers, not because of her political stance on Kosovo's recent independence.
At a recent show in Tokyo, the singer dedicated her song 'Declare Independence' to Kosovo's recent liberation, then later was quoted as saying "Maybe a Serb attended my concert [in Tokyo] and called home, and therefore the concert in Novi Sad was cancelled," by Icelandic newspaper Morgunbla?i? (but er, please don't ask us to pronounce the name of that paper)."These stories are quite bizarre and untrue. EXIT Festival has never cancelled any artist's performance because of their political point-of-view or statements," Festival GM Bojan Boskovic told Pitchfork. "We'd like to clarify that the festival is right on track and festival preparations are our best ever, we're really looking forward to announcing our program and, moreover, seeing everybody again at the event in July.
"EXIT was the first forum in the Balkans to gather people from all the former Yugoslavian countries after the civil wars. Started nine years ago as a student-initiated protest against the Milosevic regime, EXIT has become a symbol of togetherness and cultural diversity and is a social force that every year brings together more and more people, from every background and culture of the region."
The festival will take place in Novi Sad, Serbia from July 10 - 13. Playing so far is The Hives, Paul Weller, Nightwish and The Sex Pistols.
Bjork was never officially announced as a performer.
