By Iana Seales
With Jamaicans Bounty Killer and Mavado now banned from the country for security reasons the promoter of a show this weekend which was to feature the latter yesterday expressed his dismay and said the move was unfair.
Mavado was scheduled to perform at an upcoming show this weekend in Linden which was being promoted by Ryan Apple but arrangements have since been made for another Jamaican, dancehall king, Beenie Man to be here instead.
Apple referred to the ban as “an unjustified and unfair move by the government that ignores the investment made”. He said government appears to be putting Mavado in a box by pointing to a few of his songs, adding that the artiste has a variety of music that speaks to other things, and has wide appeal. When the ban announcement was made only security concerns were mentioned.
“I find it strange that government is moving to ban an artiste that was here last year and sang those very songs that are now popular and someone whose music receives much airplay. They have no idea how many persons came in for Linden town day to see Mavado and the efforts that were put into the promotion”, Apple stated.
Though no official word has reached him on the ban Apple said he has already made contact with Jamaica and according to him, they were not as stunned as him. He said that discussions were held in advance with Mavado’s people about how sensitive the local atmosphere is right now.
Julian Jones Griffith of The Alliance agency in Jamaica which manages both Bounty Killer and Movado declined to comment from the island on the ban when contacted yesterday saying, “I have nothing to say”. Sources on the island said the agency was shocked and unhappy with the recent developments.
Apple said that if government had issued guidelines for the Linden show instead of banning the artiste, he would have abided by them. He added that the security concerns being cited need to be elaborated upon.
In announcing the ban on Monday on Bounty Killer and Mavado, Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee said his ministry had exercised a lot of patience with entertainment organizers over the types of shows they hold here, pointing out that not long ago the authorities had sat down with some of the organizers to draft a set of conditions by which shows would be guided. But he noted that these conditions had not been upheld and as such they were blacklisting Bounty Killer and Mavado.
The meetings Rohee referred to were held last year following the Guyana Music Festival which featured Jamaican reggae star Buju Banton among others, and where several declamations were made against the gay community. Though Rohee did not elaborate on the bans now in effect, Bounty Killer’s explicit incitements to murder gays is believed to have been a deciding factor while in Mavado’s case, the gangster image he portrays has worked against him.
Bans
Earlier in the year Mavado was banned from performing in St. Vincent and the Grenadines by police authorities for his propensity towards graphic, violent lyrics which they said encourage violence.
The police said the decision was also made bearing in mind that St. Vincent and the Grenadines just came out from a record year for murders and an increase in violent crimes, especially involving firearms. There were 36 murders on the island in 2007, a huge jump from 13 in 2006.
Bounty Killer concerts were scrapped in Britain and Germany because of protests over lyrics that included references to killing homosexuals and the German government has announced that Bounty Killer and other singers who advocate violence and murder will, in future, be refused visas.
Bounty Killer’s UK tour dates outside London – in Bradford and Birmingham – were axed losing him thousands of pounds in performance fees according to reports from the UK and in Germany in Dortmund, Essen and Berlin concerts were also cancelled. Additionally a gig in Antwerp, Belgium was called off.
The Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD) issued a statement yesterday saying it welcomed the ban by government. The organization had spoken out against Bounty Killer coming to Guyana saying he had a history of glorifying violence in his music, specifically calling for the killing of homosexuals. According to SASOD, proper guidelines need to be crafted for local entertainment shows.
Stabroek News had reported on gunfire at a recent show, the verbal abuse against gays and the promotion of gun violence by Bounty Killer and a call by a DJ at the show for “bad men from Buxton and Agricola to `represent’ (come forward) as the Five Star General (Bounty Killer) was about to ignite the concert”. Wildfire said that after three outages, Bounty Killer was instructed to leave and frustration led to bottles being hurled at the stage in protest at his premature departure.
Yesterday, Jonathan Beepat of Wildfire Promotions said he had no comment to make about the bans since according to him, “government is free to do that”. Beepat had told this newspaper the day after the concert that his camp had spoken with Bounty Killer four times about what he had planned for the local show and the issue of his violent messages had come up.
He said positive assurances were given then. “But he had no regard for this when he took the stage… he even ignored warnings from his manager,” Beepat said. He added he felt Bounty Killer was in demand owing to his absence and decided to bring him.
