Anna von Hausswolff performs secret gig after being accused of making “satanic” music
Swedish musician Anna von Hausswolff performed a concert in secret yesterday (December 9) after being accused of making “satanic” music.
It comes after two of her French shows were cancelled due to pressure from fundamentalist Catholics earlier this week.
Her Paris gig, which was due to take place at Saint-Eustache church, went ahead at an undisclosed church, but anyone who had a ticket was told the location (via BBC).
Protesters have accused Hausswolff of playing the “devil’s music”.
The priest who cancelled her gig at Saint-Eustache church for safety reasons said accusations of von Hausswolff making “Satanic” music were wrong.
“Anna von Hausswolff’s music isn’t Satanic. Her music defends both the live issues of women’s rights and the damage inflicted on the environment,” he said.
View this post on Instagram
View this post on Instagram
Ahead of the first planned concert in Nantes earlier this week (December 7), dozens of protesters blockaded the entrance to Notre-Dame de Bon-Port church.
Von Hausswolff posted a picture of herself on Instagram inside the church and wrote: “Yesterday night the far-right Catholic integralism won over art, but not over love. Here I am waiting inside the church while listening to about 50-100 integralists chanting and screaming outside the church’s doors, blocking the way for almost 400 people. It was a scary, tense and sad situation and there was nothing for us to do but to cancel, we had too little security.
“My thoughts go out to all of you amazing fans who stood peacefully and patiently in front of these guys, I loved that you remembered that these things will never be solved by violence.
“Me and the church are working together and not against each other. This has worked very well, both parts are happy. Lots of love and respect. Thousands of people have traveled to come to these shows, and there has been nothing but love and affection in the air, both from my audience and from the church. When different people try to overcome differences and barriers that’s when true healing begins.”
Various officials throughout the local government and cultural communities have condemned the protests, with Aymeric Sassau, deputy for culture to the mayor of Nantes saying that the protests reinforce “the idea that in the face of obscurantism, we need the light of the arts and culture more than ever.
“Nantes will remain a city open to all cultures and artistic styles.”
Eli Commins, director of le lieu unique (the cultural centre that promoted the Nantes show), called the protests and subsequent cancellation “an attack on the freedom of creativity and expression” and stressed that the decision was made “in order to protect the security of everyone present.”