Kneecap on 'Fenian' and fighting back: "We understand that religious divide serves absolutely nobody"
The Belfast trio says the album reclaims a once-derogatory Irish term and turns its dismissed court case into songs about Palestine and loss.
- Belfast rap trio Kneecap released their album *Fenian*, reclaiming the term as an act of defiance following member Mo Chara's successful defense against dismissed terrorism charges brought by the UK government.
- Prosecutors charged Mo Chara with terrorism for allegedly displaying a Hezbollah flag during a concert, but a judge dismissed the case last year after he testified he unknowingly picked up the item from the stage.
- The trio continues outspoken pro-Palestinian activism on the record, featuring Ramallah-based rapper Fawzi on 'Palestine,' a message of Irish solidarity amid Israel's war in Gaza.
- Beyond political themes, the album showcases artistic maturity with 'Irish Goodbye,' a delicate ode to Móglaí Bap's mother, Aoife Ní Riain, described as a breathtaking ballad honoring her memory after her 2020 death.
- Member Mo Chara stated the band aims for *Fenian* to establish them as serious musicians, declaring they want to "not just be seen as a parody act.
16 Articles
16 Articles
Kneecap on 'Fenian' and fighting back: "We understand that religious divide serves absolutely nobody"
We meet Kneecap backstage at Kingston’s Circuit ahead of an intimate album launch show on St George’s Day (no reader, they do not celebrate). It’s been about a year and half since we last spoke. “A pretty uneventful few months I must say,” jokes Mo Chara, given the lifetime of headlines and controversy the Belfast rap trio have packed into that time, and the hours he spent in front of a judge for a now thrown-out terrorism charge at the hands of…
Confrontational and controversial, Kneecap are in a more sophisticated but less playful mood with new album
Kneecap have been inescapable over the past year. There have been charges of supporting terrorism which resulted in a UK high court case – later thrown out – battles with Keir Starmer and Kemi Badenoch, accusations of antisemitism, which they have strongly denied, travel bans to Canada and Hungary, outrage in the US and on and on.
At the heart of a media storm over the past two years for their positions on Gaza, Gaelic rappers offer an impressive album, which listens as the incandescent and seditious synthesis of all the band's characters. Meeting in Paris.
In their new album they define Keir Starmer as an armorer of genocide and back in favor of Palestine, but not only
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