PH
In year the 2013. Jamaican dancehall star Demarco is holed up in a five-star hotel in Nairobi. He is set to perform at a gig at Carnivore grounds, but a gentleman in silver chains at the hotel lobby is constantly checking the time and lifts.
He is communicating with another team in Mombasa, which is running around trying to secure a venue and licenses for Demarco’s show.
All this is unknown to the I Love My Life singer, who would sign the deal the next day, spending another two weeks in Kenya, which included days in Mombasa where he performed at Club Sea Front alongside Redsan.
“We had a budget of around Sh2 million, and were quite surprised that Demarco cost us only Sh300,000,” one of the organisers intimated to us this week.
But why secure a venue and licenses before getting the artiste to sign on? Wasn’t that too risky?
“This is how the industry works, especially if you want to take advantage of the situation. We started running around when Demarco had already landed because we knew his air tickets and accommodation in Nairobi was already sorted. We more or less hijacked the tour,” he added while laughing at what he deemed a smart move.
Interestingly, on the same weekend that Demarco was ‘daggering’ with Mombasa women on stage, reggae stars Alpha Blondy, Tarrus Riley and Duane Stephenson failed to perform at Kenyatta International Convention Centre, at a gig that had been well hyped.
The promoter’s confession sounds familiar. It was the same tactics that were used to lure Tiwa Savage, before she was left high and dry.
In the country for Redsan’s The Baddest gig, the Naija award-winning singer got caught in promoter fights, after confusion and greed made it impossible for her to get clearance from her hotel room or transport to the airport.
As she ranted online, many sober heads started questioning where the industry was headed, years after it managed to gain some credibility back after many instances of being blacklisted and given a cold shoulder by top global stars.
Everton Blender also faced the faceless promoters who switch phones off and disappear.
After performing at the Carnivore recently, it has been three weeks of cat and mouse games with the promoters who did not pay the balance as stipulated in contracts.
“We were roped in a bit late to play for Everton, but we have not seen a penny,” said Natty Conshiaz, band member of Mystic Redemption, one of the many reggae bands in Nairobi that play with international artists.
“Not just us, even Everton have not been paid, and it’s really frustrating because of sisi tumezoea (we are used to it), but what about a foreigner who can’t jump on a ‘mat’ and go home.”
Set to fly out on October 1, Everton has been spotted around Nairobi, and his prolonged stay had a silver lining, as he performed last Saturday at Cabanas. It is believed that the show was meant to help him as he didn’t have the cash to fly back.
Sources told Pulse that a group of reggae promoters came together to put up the concert to help Everton sort the mess he had been left in by the original show organisers.
But it’s not only foreign artiste who get stranded and mistreated by Kenyan event organisers if the last weekend is anything to go by.
The annual global picnic affair Dîner en Blanc took place at ‘a secret location’ in Karen, with an estimated 600 all-white clad guests attending.
Individual citizens, diplomats, media personalities and corporate honchos were among the guests, but it did not take long for the complaints, memes, photos and vitriol to appear online, trashing the organisation, disorganisation, bad food and an overrated event.
If the event was glitzy and enjoyable to some, they were not the loudest group.
“An event cannot be perfect,” explained Dîner en Blanc host, over the phone. “This is a high-value event that we have hosted for over four years and as the organiser, I ensure that the best standards are met by our providers.”
She elaborated on the negative comments over the food served: “Yes, we had an incident about the food from the kitchen and we are taking legal matters. I will not comment further into that. Those who brought their food had the time of their lives.”
According to LeAnne, people are using social media wrong, especially when it comes to critiquing.
“… when you check social media, the likes of Kalekye Mumo critiqued it objectively. Unlike Joe Muchiri who had no idea what was going on because he did not attend. If you are going to critic the event, help it by either calling for a meeting and discussing with the organisers or ask for a refund and not talking about it for the sake of it.”
Another angle that has crept up is, what if promoters go, rogue, only when they fail to break even after spending millions to organise and run events? What if the dynamics of hosting global stars are too complicated for some?
“That’s the only reason actually,” explained Crème De La Crème, deejay, producer and event organiser who just started an apparel label called Esko: “Rogue promoters will ‘play’ artists because they didn’t make money.”
He explains: “Pulling events in Kenya is not the easiest, the cost is crazy: paying the artists, getting air tickets for them and the entourage, sorting logistics… But I think the secret that worked for us (while organising and running the popular Hakuna Matata Festival) was getting solid sponsors on board. Once you have that backing you somewhat cushion yourself from burning.”
But in the promoter pool, there is a cream, which will always get gigs going, mostly because of the credibility they have built. But there are others who are just rogue.
“Yes,” said Crème. “You can get the crazy types who are simply greedy and full of tricks. They are the ones giving the industry a bad name.”
Talking to industry insider John Amolo of Diamond Sounds Entertainment after the Tiwa debacle, he said there are “vultures”, promoters whose success has always been pegged at hijacking artistes for subsequent shows once they land.
“Some promoters do hijack artistes for different shows. But this is not solely on the promoter’s side, I know many artists, especially Jamaicans, who advertise their availability to more than one promoter. On some occasions, they pick the one who is paying more,” John said.
As the busy festive period fast approaches, Everton Blender is most likely not the last we hear of stranded promoters, nor is Dîner en Blanc the last horrible dinner Kenyans will enjoy.
