Easter Show bans all rap music in bid to halt violence

Organisers of the Sydney Easter Show, in conjunction with NSW Police, have announced a ban on rap music at the weeks-long event in response to the fatal stabbing of 17-year-old Utai Faletolu at last year's event.

Ride operators at this year's Show are banned from playing 'rapper-type music', with law enforcement claiming the music is used by bikie gangs to recruit young people.

Acting Assistant Commissioner Stuart Smith said Police had extensive evidence that a number of local rap groups were being utilised by the Comanchero bikie gang recruit youth to carry out violent crime.

"KVT,  all those gangs were carrying out serious violent crime on behalf of the Comanchero gang,

"We've got all the evidence we need to demonstrate that rapper music is being used to lure youth into a life of crime."

As well as the ban, over 30 Public Safety Orders have been issued, banning people with associations to the respective groups from attending. There will also be a doubling of the Police presence, increased lighting, widening of footpaths and the increased use of metal detectors at the event.

Professor Murray Lee, from the University of Sydney's Criminology department, compared the strategy to the long list of moral panics we've seen regularly appear in regard to music over the decades.

"The idea that you're going to get a particular reaction from an audience on some ride because of the type of music being played - this really harks back to the moral panics we had around punk music... heavy metal music, the moral panics we had about rock and roll and Elvis. This is the latest version of those sorts of panics," Professor Lee said.

"Here in Australia, you'd have to say that the idea that groups like Onefour incite violence seems to be a pretty long bow to draw at this point." 

Show organiser Murray Wilton claimed to the contrary, saying that it was a 'scientific fact' that the music being played determined people's behaviours.

"We are determining the type of music and the genres that we do and do not want to have used to show, and that's what we've been working with the carnival operators," Mr Wilton said.

"Music will be turned right down, there are scientific facts that the type of music played actually predicts somebody's behaviour."

What do you think? Will a ban on rap music decrease the likelihood of violence? Is music a scapegoat to wider societal issues? Can music alone push a young person to violence?

The Royal Easter Show begins tomorrow.

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