Things turn “muddy“ at inaugural Lake July Festival
By Peter Tinashe Kaviya
The debut Lake side affair, The Lake July festival could have gone down in history as one of the most hyped up and advertised shows of the year, but it seems a lot has been happening behind the scenes with the festival possibly passing as former description.
Several DJs pulled out of the show at the last minute after they were asked to pay $50 for their performances while others claimed their agreements had not been met.
Expected to end this Sunday the festival hosted from July 29th saw a modeling contest, DJ party and a family fun day being part of the weekend long festivities.
It was however the most talked about DJ party that nearly turned the glamour to gloom with many top DJs pulling out at the 11th hour citing different reasons, chief among them the organiser’s failure to honour contractual agreements.
Some of the top DJs billed to perform, Kwekwe based DJ Stavo and Harare’s DJ Candyman took to social media to advising their fans that they had pulled out of the show and also registering their displeasure at the organisers’ failure to honour contractual agreements.
Bangladesh based Abra Simmz is also believed to have cancelled his participation at the festival due to the same reason as his fellow deck masters.
In a post on his wall, DJ Stavo’s management announced his pullout to fans urging promoters not to violate music fans.
“DJ Stavo’s management regretfully wishes to inform all our fans that ‘DJ Stavo’ will not be performing as heavily advertised at this years ‘Lake July Festival ‘this coming weekend. This is due to the promoter’s failure to meet our requirements “
“We are extremely disappointed and it really saddens us to announce that the will not be performing, when fans are expecting him to be there.” read the post.
The DJ also ceased the opportunity to ‘advise’ music promoters to be professional and not to take advantage of music fans.
“We assure you that Sat has done everything in his power to prevent this from happening and urge promoters to finalise all negotiations with artistes/djs before advertising to prevent embarrassment and disappointed to fans (sic). We strongly agree that music fans should not be violated but respected in these hash economic conditions and get value for every dollar paid,” the DJ’s management said.
Other DJs that were billed to perform at the festival also took to social media to advise their fans on the pull out and also venting their anger on the organisers of the festival.
Celebrated DJ, Candyman also took advantage of social media circulating his memo on various platforms.
‘’Please Note, DJ Candyman will no longer be playing at the DJ LAKE FESTIVAL as advertised. I would like to apologise as this is beyond my control. The promoter did not meet our demands as promised ahead of time,” read part of DJ Candyman’s thread.
The decision by the DJs resulted in a massive outcry from many DJs in the industry with many urging promoters to respect their craft.
They complained over the organisers’ decision to charge the DJs to play rather than to pay for services which is the norm.
“It’s sad that promoters do not respect DJs, imagine I pay for my fuel , food and drinks then on top of that the organisers ask me to pay $50 to play when they are supposed to pay me and on top of that they are also collecting gate takings. Promoters must respect us,‘’ said DJ Danny.
Famed DJ Speed also voiced his concerns on the issue asking promoters to be fair.
‘’I was not billed to perform there but I just heard about it today from fellow DJs and I think it’s very unfair. I still don’t understand why the DJs had to pay to play,” said DJ Speed.
Another top DJ who refused to be named said though the idea was noble in promoting art and changing the arts landscape, he was disappointed with the organisers’ behavior.
“ I think the whole gig was a noble idea and a good concept .I think it changes the entertainment landscape in the country but as for the organisers flaws in honoring agreements and asking DJs to pay to play, all I can say is, I’m very disappointed,‘’ he said.
The DJ also believes that inexperience was to blame for the flaws.
“The organisers are new in the business and I’m sure they were inexperienced resulting in all these stories, I hope they have learnt their lesson’’ added the DJ.
The Festival however went ahead as planned with revelers dancing the night away till the early hours of Sunday morning although small numbers were recorded on Friday.
contacted for comment organiser Tawanda Madzara conceded he had suffered from negative publicity from DJs but refused to comment on the issue.
“All I can say is the inaugural festival was a success although Friday was not well attended. Saturday the beach party, we had thousands of people so much that there was no parking and the beach picnic today is also well subscribed. so I think it has been a success despite the negativity,” Madzara said.
