A concert set to take place in Jaffna featuring Tamil Nadu-based singer Unnikrishnan was cancelled after threats from supporters of EPDP leader, Douglas Devananda.
Posters saying the singer had insulted Douglas and could not “sing on our soil” until he had apologised, were pasted on promotional walls all over Jaffna town.
Organisers cancelled the Jaffna concert planned for Friday night, fearing disturbances from EPDP supporters.
In 2012, Unnikrishnan publicly apologised for accepting an honour from the EPDP leader at the end of a concert in Nallur, saying he had not been aware at the time that Douglas was “the leader of a paramilitary group responsible for killing scores of Tamils.”
The singer’s concert, also featuring his daughter Uthara Unnikrishnan, went ahead as planned in Trincomalee on Saturday night, as well as a concert at the Vipulananda fine arts institute in Batticaloa.
An eminent figure in Tamil Nadu’s classical and cinematic music industries, P. Unnikrishnan spoke in 2012 of “having earned a place in the hearts of Eelam Tamils through songs on liberation”, famously recording the Maaveerar tribute song Amma un pillai uyirodu illai.
