The folk music band Södra Bergens Balalaikor's support concert for Ukraine in the Swedish city of Uppsala has been cancelled after the balalaika, one of its main instruments, was accused of being Russian.
According to national broadcaster SVT, the organiser came under tremendous pressure from the public, with critics pointing out that the balalaika, a three-string musical instrument with a characteristic triangular wooden body, was a "national symbol of Russia".
"People wrote that the balalaika is a symbol for Russia and to play for Ukraine on a balalaika is a sacrilege. They compared it to a swastika", Jonas Nyberg, one of the members of the orchestra, told SVT.
Södra Bergens Balalaikor was started in 1969 as an amateur band and today play Russian, Swedish, and Ukrainian folk music.
"You can have some sympathy in this situation because people are upset and angry. But the argument gets a little weird. We are not Russians, we just happen to play Russian instruments, as we have done all these years. Our Ukrainian musician friends don't understand it as well", Nyberg told SVT.
Since the start of Russia's special operation in Ukraine, numerous cultural institutions across the globe have distanced themselves from Russia, to the point of boycotting Russian nationals and their work, despite age-old claims that art is separate from politics. Among others, the Berlin Film Festival boycotted films funded by the Russian state and the Stockholm Film Festival banned Russian films as long as the conflict lasts.
However, the outbreak of anti-Russian sentiment sometimes strikes a comical note. For instance, the Swedish dairy company Arla decided to remove kefir, a fermented milk drink associated with Russia, as it deemed the packaging featuring characteristic onion domes reminiscent of the world-famous Saint Basil's Cathedral unsuitable and inappropriate.