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Concert-goers in Halifax last week did little to dispel the reputation for racism that hangs over Nova Scotia.

A confrontation at a Lido Pimienta concert during the city’s Pop Explosion festival has led to an apology from the festival for the actions of one volunteer whose ‘overt racism’ interrupted Pimienta’s performance.

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The Polaris Prize-winning singer often asks her audience to make space at the front for ‘the other’ — indigenous women, women of colour, trans people — as part of the environment of inclusiveness she fosters during live performance. And Pimienta asks that white people move back.

In Halifax, she invited “brown girls to the front” during her concert, and that didn’t go over well with some patrons.

According to a CP report, a white female volunteer photographer and several white audience members reacted negatively to Pimienta’s request during the Oct. 19 show.

Allie O’Manique, the young singer songwriter from Manotick who performs under the name Trails, told CP the problems started when the volunteer photographer refused to leave her spot in front of the stage. That led to a confrontation with nearby audience members who were angry at her insistence on remaining near the stage to take photos — after Pimienta repeatedly asked her to move back.