- Title: Grammys boss announces China festival partnership
- Date: 3rd August 2017
- Summary: MAN TAKING PICTURE (SOUNDBITE) (English) PRESIDENT OF THE RECORDING ACADEMY AND GRAMMY FOUNDATION, NEIL PORTNOW, SAYING: "We need to bring our music people to China. That's what we'll be doing with this beautiful festival and, of course, when the Grammys and the recording academy do a project, it has to be first class." AUDIENCE SEATED (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) CEO OF BRAVO ENTERTAINMENT, STEVEN FOCK, SAYING: "In terms of the artists they'll mainly be Grammy award winners or nominees, we also want our direction to promote positive and healthy artists." VARIOUS OF DRUMMING PERFORMANCE AUDIENCE CLAPPING PORTNOW BEING INTERVIEWED (SOUNDBITE) (English) PRESIDENT OF THE RECORDING ACADEMY AND GRAMMY FOUNDATION, NEIL PORTNOW, SAYING: "I don't think it's our place to get into a negotiation with a government about something or an issue of that type. I think that's not our role, and there may be individual cases, but not that many that I'm aware of. We'd certainly be happy to have a dialogue about it."
- Embargoed: 17th August 2017 11:33
- Keywords: China music grammys festival
- Location: BEIJING, CHINA
- City: BEIJING, CHINA
- Country: China
- Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment,Music
- Reuters ID: LVA0026SLR2X9
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:China is set to get its own Grammys festival, the President of the iconic U.S. institution Neil Portnow announced on Thursday (August 3).
The announcement, at an event in Beijing, was scant on details of where and when the events would take place, but a representative from Bravo entertainment, the company that will help put on the shows, said the artists would chiefly be Grammy winners or nominees.
The Grammys will have to tread a careful path to avoid its concerts falling foul of China's censors, who have banned seemingly innocuous acts like Bon Jovi, Lady Gaga, and even Justin Bieber in the past.
Portnow said it was not the place of the Grammys to try to negotiate for certain artists to be able to come to China, though he noted that "things can change". - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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