In what must surely be an unprecedented move Bob Dylan has posted a message on his official website about his concerts in China in April. From the Washington Post to Rolling Stone, the message, or perhaps just the act of him posting such a message, has been widely reported, and speculated about.

Perhaps Bob has uncharacteristically been stung by some of the comments made criticising his alleged “sellout”, such as Maureen Dowd in the New York Times who tremendously simplistically stated that Dylan “sang his censored set, took his pile of Communist cash and left.” Dylan denies any interference by the authorities with his planned setlist, which makes my point made in an earlier news item about Bob outsmarting any Chinese government censorship even more telling. Perhaps the last sentence of the statement is one of the most interesting parts of the post – just what is Dylan saying about the “gazillion books” about him?

Both praise and condemnation have followed Bob Dylan’s concerts in China. After a lot of speculation about whether the Chinese authorities would allow Dylan to perform, the concerts went ahead in Beijing on April 6th and Shangai on April 8th. Amongst others, Heather Horn in the Atlantic Wire criticises Dylan for going ahead with the concerts (with up to 2000 Ministry of Culture security staff in attendance) just days after the prominent dissident Ai Weiwei was taken into custody, and she accuses Dylan of “a cave in”. But the politics of cultural boycotts are difficult. Certainly in this case it would appear that Dylan has outsmarted the Chinese censors to the delight of much of the “young, enthusiastic and knowledgeable“ crowd, as one reviewer described the audience. From the concert in Beijing, one or two examples of Dylan’s messages of dissent and hope:

From “Hard Rain’s A Gonna Fall” – an outstandingly powerful song of rich imagery and deep meanings which must have resonated with many in the audience:

I’ll walk to the depths of the deepest black forest
Where the people are a many and their hands are all empty
Where the pellets of poison are flooding their waters
Where the home in the valley meets the damp dirty prison
Where the executioner’s face is always well hidden
Where hunger is ugly, where souls are forgotten
Where black is the color, where none is the number
And I’ll tell and think it and speak it and breathe it
And reflect it from the mountain so all souls can see it
Then I’ll stand on the ocean until I start sinkin’
But I’ll know my songs well before I start singin’

From “Ballad of a Thin Man” (repeated in Shangai) – as Dylan covertly taunts the authorities:

And something is happening here
But you don’t know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones?

In “Forever Young” performed by Dylan as a rare second encore in Beijing, and as the final song in Shangai, and in which Dylan expresses his empathy with, and encouragement of, the audience

May you always be courageous
Stand upright and be strong …

May you have a strong foundation
When the winds of changes shift
May your heart always be joyful
May your song always be sung

And of course both concerts started with “Gonna Change My Way of Thinking”, in which almost at the start of the song Dylan notes:

So much oppression
Can’t keep track of it no more

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Following much deliberation and prevarication the Chinese Government are to allow Bob Dylan’s [http://www.bobdylan.com/] concerts in China to go ahead. The concerts are fixed for Beijing Workers’ Stadium on April 6th and Shanghai Grand Stage on April 8th. Dylan cancelled the shows previously planned for last summer after the Ministry of Culture demanded that Dylan sign a pledge promising “not to hurt the feelings of the Chinese people”. The Chinese authorities are well aware of Dylan’s prominence as a singer of political songs, and has been particularly strict following Bjork’s protest in Shanghai 3 years ago when she shouted “Tibet! Tibet!” at the end of her song “Declare Independence”.

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