Friday, March 26, 2010

To all you disappointed Akon fans (and haters)

The director and, quite possibly, the art director for the music video of Sexy Bitch by David Guetta feat. Akon made a mistake by using a Buddha statue as a prop. It couldn't possibly have been unintentional on their part. Even if the statue was already there near that swimming pool, there is no way they could've missed it. However, having said that, I find the suggestion that it was done intentionally as a mark of disrespect for Buddhism a little hard to swallow. Maybe it was; I do not know. What I do know is that the Western psyche is such that, in the eyes of the average white boy/girl, anything Asian/Indian/Chinese/Japanese is of an 'exotic' nature and they have somehow got to have a replica of that in their living room (or near their swimming pool, in this case).

However, even if it was not intentional, they should've known better, considering the American pop music industry is no longer exclusive to American audiences. These music videos receive worldwide airplay every single day on MTV, VH1, etc., etc. It would've/should've occured to SOMEONE on the production team, from the record label, or at least one of the distributors that it was wrong, unethical and bound to cause a stir in some distant corner of the world. But as we all know, most Americans are only vaguely aware of a world outside their borders.

Anyway, the video was made, the song became an international hit almost overnight and the rest, as they say, is history. There's no point regurgitating the things that happened and the things that were said following the announcement of Akon's proposed performance in Sri Lanka. I don't know if Akon himself had anything to do with the production of the video. He probably didn't. Especially since he was a featured artist, I'm guessing he didn't have a lot of creative control, if at all. So, I don't know how fair it was to pin the blame on him and him alone.

But then, shit happens, right?

While it is my personal belief that the government made the right choice in the end, it goes without saying that on an international level the government's decision to refuse to allow the Senegalese-American singer a Visa to enter Sri Lanka has done nothing to improve the country's image. Also, we missed a golden opportunity to promote tourism and make some decent foreign revenue by "importing" fans from neighbouring countries for the concert. However, it is safe to say that the government, taking all things into consideration, managed to prevent a sequel to the 2004 Sharukh Khan drama from being played out, which can only be a good thing if you really think about it. Human lives are far more important than money. God knows, enough blood has been shed on this land already.

So, chill out and go see Gay Sean... and do some butt-wiggling... if you're into that sorta thing.

10 comments:

Dee said...

meh. but ur right.

Anonymous said...

Read Akon's press release about this and either AKON is a fucking liar, or he is a blind as a fucking bat if he "wasn't aware" that there was a Buddha statue on the set seeing as it was so huge. Which is it?

AKON is a Muslim... I highly doubt he would have been doing shit like this with, say, a Quran, or a statue of Prophet Muhammad (god forbid!). But if it's something not his religion, I guess it's okay eh....

Agree with a lot of the points you made.

PseudoRandom said...

"...it goes without saying that on an international level the government's decision to refuse to allow the Senegalese-American singer a Visa to enter Sri Lanka has done nothing to improve the country's image."

Actually I don't think it'll have any impact on Sri Lanka's international image. People are used to artists being denied permission to perform in other countries because of how they dance, the clothes they wear, the lyrics of their songs etc. - it's nothing new. In fact my friends thought the reason people got upset was 'cos there were girls in bikinis in the video...when I explained the presence of the Buddha statue, they said "oh well that's understandable then".

You said that most Americans are only vaguely aware of a world outside their borders...maybe the same applies to Sri Lankans?

Janith said...

It's just Akon, get over it! :/ :P ;)

Me-shak said...

I think, the goons who made a big scene out side sirasa were not really there because they didn't wan't Akon to come! It's a well known fact that the Kelaniya lads like to thrash up the Mharajah's once in a while. Considering the CTB bus the goons came in that day belongs to the Kelaniya depot, I believe they were sent by AAchaarya Servin Milva. This is how I look at it. I don't think it's right to protest with violence. I assume many of the goons who were present there have not even watched the "Sexy B****" video. What ever said and done, what the protesters did to Sirasa is wrong!

On the other hand, I don't think Akon can be blamed for what the video showed. it was pit bulls video, no?

I think it was a excellent decision the government made to keep Akon out. Prevention is indeed better than cure!

But we are loosing out on a lot, people from India were going to come to watch the show. All that is gone now!

No religion encourages violence, I believe Lord Budda told the same.

Non-violence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It's mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of man-(Mahthma Gandhi)

Excellent post!
Cheers!

Angel said...

Very succint and to the point... possibly the best Akon post I have read, so far! :)

Delilah said...

simply put and true.

Wiz Kun said...

An American Idiot.

Wiz Kun said...

And Sri Lankan frogs in the well.

Jack Point said...

I don't agree with the ban on Akon. Dushy Ranetunga puts the case against the ban far better than I can, see his article here:

http://transcurrents.com/tc/2010/03/politics_of_akon_visa_denial_h.html