Showing posts with label concert. Show all posts
Showing posts with label concert. Show all posts

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Sting cancels Kazakhstan concert

4 July 2011 Last updated at 09:12 GMT Sting The show was part of Sting's Symphonicity world tour Sting has cancelled a concert in Kazakhstan's capital Astana over claims of human rights violations on oil workers in the Central Asian country.

In a statement on his website, the singer axed Monday's planned show after Amnesty International told him of "the repression and crackdown" against them.

The singer said the treatment was "unacceptable".

Several thousand oil workers went on strike on 26 May over claims their salaries have been cut.

Police detained strikers for taking part in an unsanctioned protest, and a spokesman for oil company UzenMunaiGas said some 250 employees had been dismissed for breaching their contract terms.

"Amnesty International feel [Sting's] presence in Astana will be interpreted as an endorsement of the presidents' administration and surely will go against everything he has stood for, while supporting Amnesty and the fight for human rights," the statement said.

Sting added: "Hunger strikes, imprisoned workers and tens of thousands on strike represents a virtual picket line which I have no intention of crossing.

"The Kazakh gas and oil workers and their families need our support and the spotlight of the international media on their situation in the hope of bringing about positive change."

Sting had been due to perform as part of city day celebrations as part of his Symphonicity world tour.

Kazakh organisers had initially said the concert had been cancelled for "organisational and technical reasons".

The singer was criticised in 2009 after performing a concert in Uzbekistan, widely regarded as one of the most repressive regimes to emerge from the former Soviet Union.


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Sunday, June 19, 2011

Row over Jackson concert footage

16 June 2011 Last updated at 12:32 GMT Michael Jackson's This Is It This Is It was made up of concert rehearsal footage filmed prior to Jackson's sudden death in 2009 Sony Pictures is fighting lawyers for Michael Jackson's doctor over access to raw footage from the singer's posthumous concert film, This Is It.

Prosecutors plan to use clips from the film to show Jackson was in good health before he died; the defence believes rehearsal footage will show otherwise.

Dr Conrad Murray has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter.

He is accused of giving the singer a lethal dose of a powerful anaesthetic and failing to provide proper care.

Ill-fated comeback

Dr Murray is due to stand trial in September

Lawyers from both sides are due in court on Thursday to argue whether more than 100 hours of footage shot at rehearsals for the star's ill-fated comeback shows should be made available to the defence team.

Sony has filed hundreds of pages of documents arguing against the release.

Jackson, who died on 25 June 2009 aged 50, had spent the previous four months rehearsing in LA for a run of 50 concerts which were to be held in London.

Released in cinemas initially for a limited two-week run, This Is It earned $20.1m (?12.5m) at global box offices in its first day.

After two weeks, producer Sony Pictures said the film had taken more than $200m (?124m) worldwide.


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