New Aussie hip-hop festival Jumanji apologises for lack of female artists on bill

Hip-hop festival Jumanji will arrive in Melbourne and Sydney in March, and following an online backlash over its all-male lineup festival organisers have now issued an apology.

The lineup includes big international acts such as Lil Wayne, Tyga and Metro Boomin, as well as locals Ivan Oooze and Midas.Gold.

“The organisers of the Jumanji Festival would firstly like to acknowledge and apologise for the lack of female artists on the festival this year,” organisers toldMusic Feeds.

“It was always our intention to provide the best possible line-up of entertainment across both genders and every effort was made to secure both male and female acts for this festival.”

Organisers then claimed that they approached “several high profile international female artists,” and that they were all “either unavailable or not within our budget.”

“We opted to secure the best possible artists irrespective of gender that appeal to the Australian hip hop audience and we are committed to delivering an amazing experience for our patrons.

“We have acknowledged the feedback online and will ensure there is a stronger female presence on our festival in 2019.”

Brisbane-hailing Midas.Gold joined several fans in criticising Jumanji online for failing to include any non-males on it’s lineup.

“While I’m super stoked that I’m on a bill with one of my idols, I do recognise the lack of female talent on this bill, I want y’all to know that I accepted this gig with no prior knowledge of who else was being booked (besides the first round of announcements) and while I’m stupid grateful that they reached out to me I do feel the need to say something,” he said on Facebook.

“Silence is compliance, I don’t think this is a fair representation of our scene & rap music globally something I do feel strongly about on different levels & I hope the people at Jumanji Festival festival can see this & what it might imply intended or not intended.”

Jumanji’s failure to include a single non-male act comes amid the revelation that forty five global festivalshave pledged to achieve a 50/50 gender balance by 2022 as part of theUK-based PRS For Music Foundation’s Keychange initiative.

The 45 include Canadian Music Week, Liverpool Sound City; Manchester Jazz Festival; Eurosonic Noorderslag; Focus Wales; and BBC Music Introducing Stages.

Founding festivals of Keychange were Reeperbahn Festival (Germany); The Great Escape (UK); BIME (Spain); Iceland Airwaves; Way Out West (Sweden); Musikcentrum Sweden; Tallinn Music Week (Estonia); and MUTEK (Canada).