Awakenings reacts to Nastia’s cancellation of her performance

Awakenings responds to Nastia‘s cancellation reaffirming that ‘We stand by Ukraine‘.

Last Thursday we reported the news that Ukrainian DJ Nastia had made the decision to cancel her performance at this summer’s edition of the Awakenings festival, scheduled for July 29 and 30 in the Netherlands. The reasons shared by the artist on her social media relate to the fact that Nastia refuses to share the lineup with artists who are tolerant of war in Ukraine. Since the beginning of the Russian offensive, she has used social media to express her position and to condemn all artists who do not have a clear position on this issue. Nastia’s statement about the cancellation of her performance at this festival is in line with what her protests have been.

Following this news and to make it clear where Awakenings stands on this matter, the festival sent We Rave You an official reaction:

‘Unfortunately Nastia has decided to cancel her set at Awakenings Summer Festival. We regret this but we respect her decision. Nastia has stated she doesn’t want to perform at our festival anymore because we didn’t remove certain Russian artists from the lineup. We would like to explain that decision. First of all, Vladimir Dubyshkin has spoken out explicitly against the war and we have proof of that. Second, we see that Nina does not explicitly speak out against the Russian war against Ukraine, however, we’ve had several conversations with Nina personally and she has been clear on her position to us. Based on these confidential conversations we decided not to remove her from the line up and up to this point we still stand behind this decision.

We as Awakenings spoke out clearly against the war immediately after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine early this year, changed the name of our former area Z to area U and made a large donation to Giro 555 in aid of the victims of the war in Ukraine after our Awakenings Easter events. Our position on this matter remains the same and we will again donate to Giro 555 after our Awakenings Summer Festival. This regardless of Nastia’s decision. We stand by Ukraine.’

It is clear in this statement the position of Awakenings on the war and also their peace of mind regarding the names that compose the festival’s lineup, through confidential conversations, clarified the position of the artists on this matter. It is also important to reaffirm that the evidence that Awakenings has of Vladimir Dubyshkin‘s position cannot be made public for his safety and that of his family. It is currently punishable by imprisonment in Russia for anyone who mentions ‘war’ or shows opposition to the Russian government.

Image Credit: Awakenings Festival (Press) by TIM BUITING / Provided by The Media Nanny