Kingston, JAMAICA: - Rising dancehall artiste, Kalado, has
become the latest victim of a
negative review following a concert last weekend
in the Zimbabwean capital of Harare. Reports in the media are that Kalado was
bottled because his performance was not as great as that of homegrown
Zimbabwean reggae/dancehall acts.
One journalist writing
for the Zimbabwe Mail even asked the question: “Are these so called
international artistes worth bringing in the country, in the face of such
flops?”
The report continued:
“In previous years, local artistes have outperformed their Jamaican
counter-parts at several gigs. At one time, another Jamaican artiste Popcaan
was literally reduced to a curtain-raiser by Winky D. Locals feel they are
short-changed. The media have been awash with complaints of these probably
overrated stars letting down their legions of fans in the country.
“Last year, there was a
big outcry after Nigerian singer D’banj failed dismally on the stage. Born,
Dapo Daniel Oyebanjo ‘D’banj’, proved more of a studio than stage musician as
he failed to perform to expectations for hundreds of Zimbabweans who thronged
the Glamis Arena for the Lion Lager Summer Beer Festival. Some equated the Fall
in Love hitmaker’s performance to local dancer Beverly Sibanda’s style as he
spent much of his time speaking about how Zimbabwean ladies were good at
waist-twisting. D’Banj went on to invite 10 ladies, one at a time, including
Amara Brown to join him on stage…”
From as far back as
2012, singjay, Mr Vegas, who had a less-than-welcoming experience on stage in
Zimbabwe, has been questioning this trend: "Of late Jamaican reggae & dancehall
artists are getting some bad feed back after performances in Africa, even
stones were allegedly thrown at Luciano. Then there were the media reports
"Mavado flopped, Vegas failed to deliver, Assasin misses target". In
these same article, the media reports sing high praises for the local acts,
while ripping the main act. Leaves me to wonder if this is the love we get from
Africa, after taking the 2 days or more flt to spread the music to our brothers
& sisters... Is this the same Africa that we want to go back home to? Is
this the same africa that we dedicated most of our music to?. Africa where is
the love?!”(Mr. Vegas Facebook post, August 1 2, 2012)
Vegas advised his
followers in the same post: “THE FANS THAT COME TO THE SHOW ARE NOT THE
PROBLEM, ITS THE MEDIA WHO TRY TO DISREGARD OUR EFFORT, THEN TRY TO SELL A
STORY THAT THE LOCAL ARTISTS PERFORMED BETTER.”
Notably, in the review
about Kalado’s Zimbabwe performance, the reviewer also quotes a prominent disc
jock who maintains that nothing was wrong with Kalado’s performance. The
article states: “Prominent wheel spinner Godfather Templeman defended Kalado’s
performance and said local fans should be patient with foreign artistes.
‘Zimbabwean fans are not
patient. Kalado is just an upcoming artiste in Jamaica and he came here to
perform for Zimbabweans, not Jamaicans, unlike in the case with local artistes
who went to perform outside the country for Zimbabweans who migrated to those
countries,’ said Templeman. ‘There was nothing wrong with his performance...’”
With that experience
behind him, Kalado is settling back into the musical flow, as he continues to
assure fans that “good good” does, in fact, “bring life” and that he takes none
of this "personally".
Firstly let me say under no circumstances is it acceptable to throw beer cans at someone performing on stage. If you do not like the show then buzz off. However, it is important to understand the background of Zimbabweans' expectations. Many of us grew up on dancehall. Jamaican dancehall. The first Jamaican acts to make it into Zim were first rate artists. Think of Bob Marley, Shabba, Buju. Promoters who bring in second rate or washed up artists as headline acts are only setting them up for failure. Many recent shows were succesful because the artists met expectations - they were big artists. Think Beenie Man, Cocoa T, Fanton Moja, Elephant Man. They all had resounding success.
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