A Lebanese band vocally supportive of gender equality and sexual liberation was barred from performing in Middle Eastern nation Jordan earlier this week. Mashrou’ Leila, a high-profile rock band with an openly gay lead singer, was set to play at Amman’s Roman amphitheater on Friday before they were informed that the show was cancelled.
Jordan authorities allegedly informed the band that their music and message was at odds with the site’s “authenticity,” even though they’d performed at the same site on prior occasions. Mashrou’ Leila’s lyrics “concern LGBTQ rights, political freedoms, race, religion and modern Arabic identity,” according to VICE.
“Amman district governor Khalid Abu Zeid told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the band’s material ‘contradicts’ the beliefs of the three Abrahamic faiths, Judaism, Christianity and Islam,” AP reported.
The group’s banning has raised critiques about Jordan’s attempts to portray itself as a tolerant and forward-moving country. This depiction is often personified by U.S. politicians’ universal praise of Jordan’s King Abdallah. The American-educated monarch has been praised by President Obama as a “a voice of reason and moderation and tolerance.” Seeker of the Democratic Presidential nomination Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) called Abdallah “one of the heroes…in the Middle East.” On the Republican side, the Jordanian King was cited by Chris Christie in a debate as someone who needed American assistance in the region (Christie mistakenly referred to Abdallah as King Hussein — Abdallah’s father and predecessor who died in 1999), and Fox News has heaped massive praise on Abdallah in the past.
Jordan is a landlocked country in the Middle East, bordered by Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Syria, and Israel. Around 97 percent of their 8 million population is Sunni Muslim, and that includes a vocal conservative section of society that has likely influenced Mashrou’ Leila’s ban. But like all countries, Jordan is not a monolith. The capital, Amman, has a burgeoning art scene with many contemporary Jordanian and Palestinian artists and an underground music scene.
While the arts may be blossoming, locals in the music scene say it is still regularly censored. Other forms of expression are also tightly controlled. Human rights group Freedom House declared in 2015 that the status of Jordan’s press was “not free.”
“The Jordanian press faced decreased levels of overt harassment and violence in 2014 after withstanding an escalation of violence and threats in the previous year,” Freedom House’s report read. “Nevertheless, the government took action against several journalists, principally using a newly revised antiterrorism law, and expanded efforts to silence critics on social-media platforms.”
Such cases of repression show that Jordan isn’t as tolerant as it likes to portray itself to the international community, according to analysts. “The government wouldn’t ban this band if the society was more open and tolerant,” media analyst Hosni Ayesh told AP, adding that Jordan is experiencing a rise in religious fundamentalism. “The government fears the society and some elements in the government are as conservative as the society.”
Mashrou’ Leila lead singer Hamed Sinno posted a note written by his mother, who is Jordanian, to his Facebook page on Wednesday afternoon. “As a Jordanian, and the mother of the lead singer of Mashrou’ Leila, Hamed Sinno, I want to announce that I am proud of what Mashrou’ Leila has dared to do…knowing that they speak for a generation and a people,” she wrote. “Dare we not critique? Dare we not speak? Dare we not be? Mashrou’ Leila I am proud of you but for the first time in my life, I am ashamed that my country, Jordan, has not appreciated that they should be proud that there is some Jordanian blood in Mashrou’ Leila.”
There is Jordanian blood in Mashrou’ Leila, but unless a reversal comes from authorities, there will be no Mashrou’ Leila in Jordan.
Update:
Jordanian authorities reversed the ban on Mashrou’ Leila Thursday. The concert will not go on as planned, however, because the decision came too late to make the proper arrangements.