The irreverent, unrepentantly political Northern Irish rap trio Kneecap welcomed a particular visitor onto the stage of its present in Melbourne, Australia, over St. Patrick’s Day weekend: the pinnacle of King George V, which gave the impression to be a lacking piece of a statue that was decapitated within the metropolis final yr.
“Some madman dropped by with an enormous King George’s head so he might hear just a few tunes for our final Melbourne present!” the group posted on Instagram, alongside {a photograph} of the large bronze face onstage in entrance of one of many group members, Mo Chara.
It was the newest twist in a monthslong thriller, after a towering statue of King George V within the King’s Area space of Melbourne was decapitated and vandalized with paint final June, a part of a wave of anticolonial vandalism that focused imperial statues throughout the state of Victoria. The lacking head appeared to briefly reappear in January, when a video posted on Instagram confirmed it on a barbecue grill, lit on fireplace. But it surely has been lacking, once more, ever since.
“Allegedly his head was minimize off final yr within the metropolis..…in any case he was placed on stage for just a few tunes after which whisked away,” the group wrote in its put up. “Bear in mind each colony can fall 🔥”.
Kneecap — a trio composed of the West Belfast musicians Mo Chara, Moglai Bap and DJ Provai — has raucously burst into the mainstream over the previous yr with a critically acclaimed, truth-adjacent biopic. The group is understood for its high-volume Republican politics and gleefully inebriated reveals, during which its frontman, Bap, recurrently seems shirtless and slugging from a bottle of Buckfast, a budget tonic wine that could be a common Irish touchstone for a messy night time out.
Central to the group’s ethos are anti-colonialist politics and promotion of the Indigenous language. Bap, Chara and DJ Provai carry out in each Irish and English, and so they have spoken usually concerning the significance of selling and preserving the Irish language, which was banned throughout the island throughout British occupation.
The group has much less courted controversy than openly promoted it: Across the identical time that King George V’s head was separated from the statue, the group tore by the British Museum in London, putting Kneecap-branded “Stolen from Eire” stickers on varied artifacts.
Kneecap didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
The police in Melbourne confirmed that they had been nonetheless investigating the decapitation of the statue and that they had been conscious of its potential current weekend out.
“Melbourne Crime Investigation Unit detectives proceed to research injury to a statue in Kings Area final yr,” the police stated in a press release. “Investigators are additionally conscious that the pinnacle from what seems to be a statue appeared at a live performance in Melbourne on 14 March. Detectives will examine whether or not there’s any hyperlink between the 2 incidents.”
The statue was decapitated final June throughout a vacation begun to have a good time the British king’s birthday. Australia established itself as an unbiased commonwealth in 1901 and formally severed any remaining ties to Britain in 1986. It has an extended connection to Eire and Northern Eire and is residence to one of many island’s most sturdy diasporas.
