Solange has canceled her previously scheduled New Year's Eve performance at Afropunk in South Africa. In a lengthy Instagram note posted on Wednesday, Solange opened up about her recent battle with an autonomic disorder and promised to return to Afropunk in the future to make up for the last-minute cancelation.
"The past five months I have been quietly treating, and working through an Autonomic Disorder," Solange said. "It been a journey that hasn't been easy on me... Sometimes I feel cool, and other times not so cool at all. It's a complicated diagnoses , and I'm still learning so much myself, but right now, my doctors are not clearing me for such an extended lengthy flight, and doing a rigorous show right after [sic]."
Solange didn't say which autonomic disorder she was diagnosed with, but their symptoms include trouble regulating heart rate; issues with blood pressure and body temperature; cognitive impairment; and fatigue.
The decision to call off the performance, Solange added, was a difficult one. "There is simply no other place I wanted to be than there with my family to bring in 2018 with you," she said. See Solange's full note below.
The rest of the Johannesburg Afropunk lineup includes Anderson .Paak, Laura Mvula, Dookoom, The Brother Moves On, and more. In a statement shared shortly after Solange's Instagram note, Afropunk organizers thanked her for inspiration and support.
"Her music and spirit has been a place of great comfort and inspiration to us as a community," the statement said. "And of course we are incredibly saddened that she will no longer be performing at the inaugural Afropunk Joburg this weekend. We at Afropunk would like to deeply apologize to all festival-goers and ticket-holders, but the circumstances of this news are completely out of Afropunk's control. Solange was greatly looking forward to being a part of this historic occasion, and as her statement makes clear, she has vowed to come back to Johannesburg with Afropunk at a later date."
