For Russia With 'Love': Let's Ponder On Cardiff Philharmonic Orchestra's Cancellation Of Tchaikovsky And Other Similar Incidents

Cardiff's philharmonic orchestra situated in Wales will not play the works of seminal Russian composer Tchaikovsky.

No, this is not a headline from the Onion nor is this an attempt at satire. Although one can perhaps be forgiven for observing that the real world is much more satirical than the words of most brilliant satirists.

The organisers of this Orchestra believe that it would be "inappropriate at this time" to play Tchaikovsky's works.

Tchaikovsky along with Beethoven and Wagner are the most widely known classical music composers. Chances are that even those who are not aficionados of classical music must have heard their name.

It is unclear what Mr.Tchaikovsky's fault is, he has not commented on the ongoing Ukraine-Russia war. It has been almost 130 years since he passed away. Whatever views he may have on Ukrainian nationalism are now lost to the crevices of past.

It is worth flagging that Wagner's music is not cancelled.

His views on Jews are quite well know, although there is some debate there. The debate isn't about whether he was antisemitic or not but rather about how antisemitic was he.

Wagner in his essay titled 'Jewishness in Music' wrote that "we always feel instinctively repelled by any actual, operative contact with them (jewish people)".

He concluded the essay by writing "only one thing can redeem you (Jewish people) from the burden of your curse: going under!". However Wagner did have some Jewish friends.

Perhaps he was as transparent about his views to them as he was to Franz List. In a letter to Mr. List he writes that, "long-suppressed resentment against this Jewish business is as necessary to me as gall is to the blood".

Perhaps its a tad bit much to expect from Britain that they'll be so offended by Wagner's views that they cancel his music. After all the city of Cardiff like almost all British cities, has statues dedicated to Winston Churchill.

This is understandable, considering the fact that Churchill led the island nation during the 2nd world war. The odd thing is even Americans across the pond are quite fond of Churchill. One can argue that his tribal, backward and petulant views in no way undermine the historic speech he gave at Fulton.

This brings us back to the question - what is Mr.Tchaikovsky's fault?

This isn't a question that only puzzles Mr. Tchaikovsky's soul. A university in Milan cancelled Dostoyevsky's literature.

This treatment isn't reserved just for Russians who are no longer alive. Alexander Malofeev is a 20 year old pianist. He was supposed to perform at the Vancouver recital society.

Now that isn't on the cards anymore. The organisation's artistic director informed CBC that she felt she had no choice. This treatment of Mr. Malofeev makes it seem like he is some criminal, which is odd because he didn't even honk a truck in Toronto.

On the off chance that the world still don't appreciate how the West is depicting its solidarity for Ukraine, the people whose heart bleeds for Ukraine have ensured that a cost is imposed not just on dead and living Russian human beings but on Russian animals too.

A cat federation in France (yes, it is a real federation) has banned all Russian breeds from participating in their competitions (yes indeed, it is a real competition).

The French organisation — Fédération Internationale Féline (FIFe) said that the decision was taken because they were "shocked and horrified" over the war in Ukraine.

The writer of this article, yours faithfully, believes that this is a good first step by the French. They must now go ahead and ban all the other cat breeds as well. (Ensuring the metro stations in Paris are odourless, to put it delicately, would be a worthwhile goal too.)

Lastly, if someone still thinks that West's solidarity for Ukraine is superficial and depiction of a bandwagon effect, here is another incident that occurred.

French restaurant Maison de la Poutine, which has locations in Paris and Toulouse, France, said last weekend it had received several threatening phone calls from people.

The reason being that their menu serves a dish called Poutine. Poutine, as anyone who’s visited Montreal or attended a hostel Potluck party with flatmates from Quebec knows, is a dish of fries, gravy, and cheese.

A comfort food of Quebecois Canadians, similar to Mac and cheese of Americans. What this dish has to do with Russia and Ukraine's war remains unknown. People in Quebec speak French, at least of all people, the French should know this dish of their long lost brethren has nothing to do with Vladimir Putin.

And here we thought it was just the amusing Americans who are pouring Vodka down the sink to showcase their solidarity for Ukraine. One wonders with all these cancellations, when will Lenin be cancelled? After all it was him signing the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk that led to all the confusion in Eastern Europe.

quel monde! quel monde!