China has forbidden German electronic band Kraftwerk from performing at a music festival, more than a decade after they appeared on the bill of a Free Tibet concert, an industry source said on Thursday.
Modern Sky records, a Chinese music company, applied to the Ministry of Culture for permission for the band to play at the annual Strawberry Festival in Beijing next month.
But a source at the firm, asking for anonymity for fear of reprisals, said: “Kraftwerk were not allowed to play... because they participated in a Free Tibet concert.
“We had already arranged the show, it’s a pity they can’t come, it’s a great shame.”
Kraftwerk achieved fame in the 1970s as pioneers of electronic pop music and were scheduled to appear at a high-profile “Free Tibet” concert in Washington DC in 1998. The band pulled out after the show was afflicted by bad weather.