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Almost 40 years after it topped the UK Christmas pop chart and made hundreds of thousands of kilos for charity, Band Support’s charity anthem has come underneath contemporary hearth for its lyrics, which critics say perpetuate racist and patronising stereotypes of African individuals.
The tune, Do They Know It’s Christmas? was written and recorded by dozens of the UK’s hottest pop artists in response to a devastating famine occurring in Ethiopia on the time. It offered hundreds of thousands, and inside a 12 months had raised £8million ($10.1million) for humanitarian aid.
It additionally famously stored off the highest chart spot Final Christmas by Wham!, a tune which lastly reached the highest spot this 12 months. On the time, that tune’s author George Michael donated all its proceeds to the Band Support fund.
However Band Support’s lyrics haven’t aged effectively, with critics now lining as much as slam what author Indrajit Samarajiva calls “a horrible, racist tune.”
He writes: “It’s not simply that these lyrics haven’t aged effectively. They had been by no means good in any respect.
“They take an ignorant and colonial perspective, extra about making white individuals really feel good than serving to anybody.”
And he provides that that the tune makes sweeping references to Africa, with no particular reference to the struggling in Ethiopia:
“As an illustration, the lyrics: ‘There received’t be snow in Africa this Christmas time. The best present they’ll get this 12 months is life.
‘The place nothing ever grows, no rain or rivers stream. Do they realize it’s Christmastime in any respect?”
“I imply, that is all improper. It does snow in Africa, though not so much.”
In the meantime, Nigerian Igbo British author Ije Teunissen-Oligboh has shared her discomfort of rising up within the UK on the time of the tune’s launch:
“The intention is a good one and ought to be lauded moderately than criticised, however the execution was appalling and helped to perpetuate stereotypes and misinformation.
“The discomfort I felt as a baby watching the one’s music video alongside my predominantly white buddies in class assemblies was pointless and avoidable … I struggled to articulate to friends that the photographs they had been seeing within the video weren’t an correct illustration of a complete continent.”
The tune has been re-recorded by totally different artists and launched a number of instances since 1984, with cash raised for various charitable efforts, and with the lyrics tweaked. However the authentic stays the usual, and is far performed within the UK all through each festive season.
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