adminLion Lager Beer Festival on Saturday.
Cocoa Tea and Fantan Mojah had to perform without their fellow Jamaican as it emerged that the beverages giant might have been swindled.
The company had employed the services of Nhamo Chitimbe of Shumba Instrumentation, a local reggae promoter who has in the past brought in Luciano and Sizzla, to handle ALL negotiations with the artistes.
Sources close to the deal said Delta paid Cocoa Tea and Fantan Mojah $30 000 each while Beres Hammond “got” $60 000, amounts which observers say are obscene and buck the trend.
Speaking on condition of anonymity one source said it was unbelievable that a company as huge as Delta had left everything in the hands of Chitimbe. The source further questioned the reason behind dumping Yedu
Nesu, who made the contact last year that brought Beanie Man.
“The whole thing smells fishy and someone must explain what happened because Delta was only informed at the very last minute that Beres would not be coming because he had other shows lined up,” said the source.
Delta Beverages’ marketing and communications manager Patricia Murambinda said they had started the process to find out what transpired and were still waiting for word from Mr Hammond yesterday.
“Normally as Delta we do not engage the artistes that perform at our functions because we don’t have the expertise so we hire promoters who are the experts in the field. Just like what we do with Chibuku Neshamwari and Road to Fame, the National Arts Council deals with the music groups and not us.
“However, we did pay for Beres to perform although I cannot state how much we paid him. So far I have only managed to get hold of Spencer Chiwota who works with Mr Chitimbe but he has directed me to speak to Chitimbe himself,” she said.
She added that it was unfortunate that Beres could not perform because it put a dent on their reputation especially after hosting a number of previous successful shows which include Beanie Man’s majestic performance last year.
Online Reporter