Irish band Kneecap took London’s Oxford Street by storm last week, just hours after it was announced that one of their number faced terrorism charges in England for allegedly expressing support for Hezbollah and Hamas.
Crossover recognition is something of a holy grail in the world of popular music. Think Beyonce and her country single last year. Kneecap have done this with politics, and it is a sign of the times both in their country and across the global sphere.
To understand how a rap group that performs in the Irish language could have become a global ticket, I think you need to go back to what made them. First, the name of the name of the band is evocative of the Irish Troubles, the 30 years of terrorism that put British control of Northern Ireland on the global agenda. The Irish Republican Army (IRA) had a particular way of punishing its dissenters and that has been recycled in the name of the band.
In that fight, there was a particular phenomenon of the tout – a person who informed on IRA activity to the security forces . There was an immense stigma within the community against the idea of someone selling out to the oppressor. The fate of those blamed for doing this was gun to the back of knee that blew off the kneecap.
Thirty years later, it is now in the pop culture, though I would guess few of the tens of thousands that throng the band's venues have thought through what their name is about. The three members – Mo Chara, DJ Provai and Moglai Bap, whose real names are Liam Og O hAnnaidh, JJ O Dochartaigh and Naoise O Caireallain, respectively – saw their upbringings shaped by Gaelicisation of parts of the nationalist community in cities like Belfast.
Indeed, Moglai Bap's father, Gearoid O Caireallain, was an activist for the cause of promoting the Irish language, particularly in the 1980s and 1990s. His death last year was undoubtedly a major point of transition for the group. Irish President Michael D Higgins paid tribute to the loss of this “major figure”.
The cause goes on, and while Mo Chara has a court date of June 18 in Westminster Magistrates' Court, the band continue to perform. After Oxford Street, it was Brockwell Park in south-east London. The festival crowd were given a defiant message: that the group's support for the Palestinian cause would not be bowed or broken by prosecution. Indeed, to the band the word prosecution is synonymous with persecution.
“We’re being made an example of,” declared Mo Chara on the stage of the Wide Awake Festival. “The Israeli lobbyists are trying to prove to other artists: ‘If you speak out, we’re going to hit you where it hurts most’.
“Believe me lads, I wish I didn't have to do this," he added. "But the world's not listening. The world needs to see solidarity of 20,000 people in a park in London chanting, 'Free, free Palestine!’"
It is a message that the group has made no bones about since the latest conflict in Gaza erupted. From their perspective, the Gaza plight is a war of oppression every bit as grim and crushing as that waged on Ireland over centuries. Giving voice to the rejection of that onslaught is something natural and obvious for Kneecap. Steeped in violence and its consequences, Kneecap, as the name suggests, do not shy away from defiance.
Having performed at the US festival Coachella and proclaimed Israel was committing genocide in Gaza with US backing, the group faced calls for a US visa ban. The television celebrity Sharon Osbourne led the calls to ban the group from the US for open support of terrorist organisations.
In the UK, the profile of Kneecap has grown far beyond the subject matter of their material. They vigorously contest the allegations against them. The June 18 charge related to a performance in November, when Mo Chara allegedly displayed a flag in support of proscribed organisation Hezbollah.
The group has apologised to the families of the murdered MPs David Amess and Jo Cox after another onstage snippet was discovered, in which one of the group declared: "The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP." Kneecap claim the clip has been exploited and weaponised against them.
The court appearance next month is therefore just one more way station in the controversial career of Kneecap. Their essential point is that they are not responsible for the tens of thousands that have died in Gaza.
Their radical views are a product of the culture and beliefs that formed them, and any type of establishment criticism or police action serves to reinforce their outlook. The image of the band is, in mainstream terms, defiant, and that chimes with festival goers who want to give expression to their outrage over the images they see of what is happening in Gaza. Elton John, another music luminary, praised Kneecap, and commented that it was unusual for a band to bring politics to the stage.
Terrorism charges have followed but Kneecap will continue to assert its politics. Politics is their lifeblood because of where they grew up and the people around them. Don’t expect court appearances to make any difference to that singular fact.
