Singer Valery Meladze’s concerts were canceled in three Siberian cities

In three cities of Siberia – Novosibirsk, Barnaul and Kemerovo – the spring concerts of the singer Valery Meladze have been canceled. The organizers of the concerts in Barnaul informed the state-run RIA “Novosti” that Meladze is a “forbidden artist”. Who exactly and why Meladze was banned is not specified.

The concerts in Siberia were supposed to take place at the end of April. Now the sale of tickets for them has been stopped.

Valery Meladze’s problems began after the New Year’s performance in Dubai. Then someone from the audience shouted from the hall: “Glory to Ukraine!”. Meladze, turning the microphone aside, answered: “Glory to the heroes.” The recording of this moment went viral on social networks. Into the microphone, he asked the audience to stay out of politics.

Meladze clarified on his Instagram that he is against any wars. He wrote that he is not trying to please anyone and has been living “with a feeling of heaviness and grief” for ten months, because his “dearly beloved nations are in a conflict in which people are dying.”

On the day of the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, February 24, 2022, Valery Meladze recorded a video appeal in which he called for an end to hostilities and to sit down at the negotiating table. “People must be able to negotiate, for this we are given language, for this we are given all the abilities. People must not die. This must be stopped,” said Meladze.

Earlier, the leader of the “Just Russia – For Truth” faction, Sergei Mironov, called on Meladze to leave everyone in Russia: “He is sitting on two chairs, trying to “grab” from all sides. It’s time to make a decision. Although, judging by his behavior, this “artist” has his chose a side”. The head of the Historical Heritage Fund, Alexander Karabanov, proposed to recognize Meladze as a foreign agent.

Senator Elena Afanasyeva called the singer’s concession brutality, ugliness and betrayal. “For such a thing, Meladze should not be called, but the citizenship of the Russian Federation,” Afanasyeva said.

• Valery Meladze is Honored Artist of Russia and People’s Artist of the Chechen Republic. In 2005, he also received the title “Honored Artist of the Autonomous Republic of Krym” – in connection with the Independence Day of Ukraine. His brother, the composer Konstantin Meladze, is an Honored Artist of Ukraine.
• After the start of the war, concerts and performances with the participation of artists who did not support the Russian invasion were regularly canceled in Russia. On July 7, 2022, the publication “Fontank” published a list of Russian musicians whose performances the authorities consider undesirable in Russia due to their anti-war stance. Among them are the groups DDT, “Casta”, “Bi-2”, “Nogu svelo”, Anacondaz, IC3PEAK, “Krovostok”, Little Big, singers Zemfira, Monetochka, Grechka, Manizha, Louna, Dora, rappers Oxxxymiron, Face, Morgenstern , Legalize and other artists. Many of them left Russia, some were declared by the Ministry of Justice to be foreign agents.