One of the most popular Croatian daily newspapers, 24 sata, brings the shocking front-page story about Severina�s canceling her North America tour. The reasons given for this year's Croatian Eurovision Song Contest participant's cancellation is low interest, attacks on local organisers and bomb attack threats!
Last week we reported that Severina was going to start her first ever major tour in the USA and Canada. The organizer of her tour, Arx International – an experienced company in organizing similar evens with most major ex-Yugoslav artists, decided that Severina should perform in big city venues, unlike most of the other Croatian singers who usually perform in small Croatian or Catholic halls. The organizers thought she was popular enough not to attract only Croatian, but also the whole ex-Yugoslav diaspora.
This was proven to be wrong, not only because of the low interest but also due to the fact that Croatian diaspora didn’t find it ‘appropriate’ that the company led by a Serb and a Bosnian organized the shows.
The tour was supposed to start in Atlanta. Despite reports that the tour was sold out at most venues on some websites, two hours before the concert only 50 tickets were sold, from the expected 1000, and Severina decided to cancel the show. The same night they received the news that only 20 tickets were sold for her Los Angeles concert and that Croatian diaspora from Vancouver threatened to set a bomb if she appeared in Vancouver. According to 24 sata, the reason for such threat was the fact that the organizer was a Serbian/Bosnian company. Severina’s management team took the threat very seriously and immediately cancelled the show, and later the entire tour.
This news comes as a big shock. Over the last several years, Serbian singers didnt experience any inconveniences when holding theconcerts in Croatia and vice versa. The same goes for Bosnian artists. However, it seems that the ex-Yugoslav diaspora needs some more time to put the past behind.
