INDONESIA

Dua Lipa cancels due to ‘safety concerns’

Dua Lipa canceled her November 9 concert in Jakarta due to “security concerns,” according to Sky News. As part of the Asian leg of her ‘Radical Optimism’ tour, Lipa was due to perform in the Indonesian capital, but was canceled just before the show ‘due to staging concerns’ at the 16,500-seat Indonesia Arena.

In a joint statement on Lipa’s website, organizers TEM Presents and PK Entertainment said the cancellation was “due to unforeseen security and logistical issues.” The statement went on to say that organizers had made “diligent efforts to resolve critical production issues related to Mata Elang Productions’ stage structure,” but that it was “not safe to proceed with the performance.”

On Instagram, Lipa wrote: “I am heartbroken to share that I will not be able to perform in Jakarta on Saturday, November 9. I am there in your great country and ready to perform, but I hate to tell you that it is so. It has been determined that it is not safe to go ahead with the performance due to safety issues with the staging. I was so looking forward to this evening, and it really hurts me that we can’t perform for all of you, especially after such a long time since my last performance in Jakarta. Refunds will be issued from your point of purchase. I love you all and really can’t wait to be together again in the same room, singing and dancing your heart out as soon as possible.”

JAPAN

NewJeans brings K-pop to Countdown

NewJeans becomes the first K-pop girl group to perform at Japan’s largest year-end festival, Countdown Japan.

The group’s management agency announced the performance on November 7 Korea Herald.

Countdown Japan, presented by the music magazine Just rocktakes place December 28-31 at the Makuhari Messe convention center in Chiba, just east of Tokyo.

NewJeans will perform on the final day of the festival. Countdown Japan started in 2003 and is touted as the largest indoor year-end music festival in Japan. More than 100 Japanese acts will perform over four days.

‘Asian Grammys’ debut as Music Awards Japan

A new music awards ceremony will take place next year, which some are calling the “Asian version of the Grammys,” reports Japan Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper.

The ceremony is the brainchild of five organizations led by the Recording Industry Association of Japan, which announced the event, called Music Awards Japan. The first ceremony will take place in Kyoto in May.

The idea was proposed by Shunichi Tokura, the commissioner of the Japan Cultural Affairs Agency, with the aim of promoting the music of Japan and other Asian countries to the rest of the world.

About 5,000 people in the music industry will vote for songs and artists that appeared on the Japanese charts between January 29, 2024 and January 26, 2025. There will be six categories, including best song and best album.

In addition, prizes will be awarded for Japanese songs that have become global hits and for songs that are popular throughout Asia.

In total, approximately 60 prizes will be awarded in various genres, including hip hop, enka (traditional Japanese ballads) and kayokyoku (Japanese pop songs).

Tatsuya Nomura, president of the Federation of Music Producers Japan, said as part of the announcement, “I want to make the awards a celebration to share the possibilities of music with the world.”

TAIWAN

Andy Lau causes controversy with ‘Nationalist’ song

Hong Kong-based pop star/actor Andy Lau performed in Taiwan last month for the first time in more than a decade.

One of the songs he sang, ‘Chinese People’, caused some controversy on the island when a video of the concert was uploaded to the Internet.

The song clearly has a nationalistic purpose, and some Taiwanese were offended given the friction between the island and Beijing, which claims Taiwan is an integral part of the People’s Republic of China.

According to the Street timesWang Ting-yu, a Taiwanese lawmaker and member of the Democratic Progressive Party, posted the video on social media platform Threads on November 2.
In the video, Lau sings the controversial song with simplified Chinese lyrics appearing on a large screen behind him, as well as an image of a dragon.

The word ‘Taiwan’ is written in ‘traditional Chinese characters’.

Wang accompanies the video with a message that reads: “Is this a scene of Andy Lau performing in China? What a very, very ‘China’ set design. I’ve never heard this song before… Shocked to hear it sung tonight at the Taipei Arena.”

In an earlier post on Facebook, Wang described Lau as a “pro-communist artist” whose concert was “not worth watching.”

The song in question was first released in 1997 to commemorate Hong Kong’s return to China and has always been considered nationalistic.

One lyric reads: “The same tears, pain and bitter suffering from the past/We carry them in our hearts…Hand in hand, with no distinction between you and me/We carry on with our heads held high/To let the world know that we are all Chinese.”

Many Taiwanese netizens joined Wang in complaining about the song, saying Lau’s mission seemed to be to “indoctrinate” his fans.

Conversely, mainland netizens joined the conversation to defend Lau, saying that the song’s writers, Preson Lee An-xiu and Chan Yiu-chuen, were actually Taiwanese who had written many songs for Hong Kong and Taiwanese artists.

Chinese state media said Wang deliberately stoked a cross-strait controversy and “exposed the vulnerability of Taiwanese independence separatists.”

This was said by a professor of Chinese history Street times that the Taiwanese netizens who objected to the song felt that Lau was “forcing” his views on them, but since Lau did not break any laws “it is really up to him to choose his identity.”

Apparently, Lau sang the same song at his last Taiwanese concert in 2013, but there was no response.