Cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason who performed at Harry and Meghan wedding inundated with racist abuse in Rule, Britannia! row

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The award-winning cellist who performed at Harry and Meghan’s wedding has been inundated with racist abuse after suggesting Rule, Britannia! ought to be axed from BBC’s Proms.

Sheku Kanneh-Mason, 26, who performed at the royal wedding aged 19, mentioned not too long ago that folks “don’t realise how uncomfortable a song like that can make a lot of people feel”.

The tune refers to Britain’s colonial previous and involvement in mass enslavement and was written at a time when the nation’s involvement in the abhorrent follow was thriving.

But, following his feedback, the lauded musician confronted a torrent of on-line abuse.

“Replying to the barrage of racism against my son @ShekuKM this week,” his mom Dr Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason wrote on x/Twitter on Monday .

“So many feel it’s ok to call for deportation, flogging, sending him ‘back to Africa’ and to use ‘n*****’ against someone trying to engage in a conversation about music and inclusion. Horror, rage, heartbreak”.

The music is historically performed at the Last Night of the Proms, usually with a visitor soloist.

In 2020, the BBC mentioned the live performance would carry out the music with out lyrics resulting from its controversy. It made a U-turn at the final second and the music was performed with the unique lyrics.

During an interview on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, Mr Kanneh-Mason mentioned he didn’t assume the music ought to be included as a result of “so much wonderful music” might exchange it.

“I think maybe some people don’t realise how uncomfortable a song like that can make a lot of people feel, even if it makes [the people singing it] feel good,” he mentioned.

“I think that’s somehow a big misunderstanding about it.”

Mr Kanneh-Mason, who obtained an MBE in 2021, advised the music could possibly be changed with British folks music, including: “There is so much wonderful British music, the wealth of folk music from this country is astonishing.

“There is so much that is worth celebrating and having as part of a big celebration at the end of a wonderful music festival.”

The cellist, who is a part of the UK’s most well-known classical music household with his eight different siblings all classically skilled musicians, additionally mentioned his musical household’s experiences of racism throughout the interview.

“Very often, in the spaces that I was in within classical music, myself and my family were very often the only Black people in those places,” he mentioned.

“There was certainly occasions where my being Black meant that I wasn’t necessarily taken seriously in some situations. And also outside, of course, outside of music.”

Rule, Britannia! originates from the 1740 poem, of the identical title, by Scottish bard James Thomson, which was set to music in the identical 12 months by English composer Thomas Arne.

Some of the music’s lyrics embrace the traces “Britons never, never, never shall be slaves” and: “The nations, not so blest as thee / Must, in their turns, to tyrants fall / While thou shalt flourish great and free: The dread and envy of them all.”

Mr Kanneh-Mason made historical past in 2016 when he turned the primary Black BBC Young Musician and has performed at the BBC Proms each summer season since 2017.

He stays the highest-charting cellist of all time in the UK, after his 2020 album Elgar, primarily based on Edward Elgar’s Cello Concerto, hit quantity eight, making it the primary to ever break into the highest 10.

Responding to Mr Kanneh-Mason’s feedback about ‘Rule, Britannia!’, the BBC mentioned: “The Proms are built on long-standing traditions that were established by co-founder Sir Henry Wood, and which are loved by people around the world.

“One of these traditions is the Last Night festivities, other traditions include promoting new music, accessibility and opening up the world of classical music to as many people as possible.”