""It's very hard to talk about this," Greenwood admitted, "but I think music and art should be above and beyond political concerns. You know I made an album [2023's Jarak Qaribak] involving Israeli, Iraqi, Egyptian and Syrian musicians?""
""If I'm supposed to stop working with musicians because I dislike their governments then I wouldn't work with any of them. The fact is, what defines us as musicians isn't our nationalities. But that point doesn't seem to get through.""
""Look, I have been to antigovernment protests in Israel and you cannot move for all the 'Fuck Ben-Gvir' stickers," he added. "I spend a lot of time there with family and cannot just say, 'I'm not making music with you fuckers because of the government.' It makes no sense to me. I have no loyalty - or respect, obviously - to their government, but I have both for the artists born there.""
Jonny Greenwood maintains that music and artistic collaboration should remain independent from political and governmental considerations. He collaborated with Israeli singer Dudu Tassa and has performed in Israel both solo and with Radiohead. Greenwood cited his 2023 album Jarak Qaribak, involving Israeli, Iraqi, Egyptian and Syrian musicians, as an example of cross-border collaboration. He argued that refusing to work with musicians because of their governments would prevent working with many artists. Greenwood emphasized solidarity with artists over loyalty to governments, noted family ties in Israel, and warned that boycotts can be politically dangerous.
Read at Consequence
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