Music lovers were disappointed when local artist Lazarus Shiimi, known as Gazza, failed to hit the stage at the Iconic Music Festival in Windhoek last weekend as was promised by event organisers, Mindscape Events.

Gazza was part of the line-up of artists set to perform at the music event where South African artists Kwesta and Amapiano artist Sir Trill were headliners. 

Gazza’s no show at the event led to fans speculating on what had transpired. Some fans speculated the artist was embroiled in a fight with another musician.

However, in an interview with VIBEZ!, Gazza rubbished the claims and clarified what led to him not performing as planned.

The Chelete hitmaker said he had made it clear to the promoters he would not perform if they did not honour their contractual obligations.  

According to Gazza, the promoter failed to pay a 50% deposit as per agreement, despite allowing them to proceed with promotions without the upfront payment. 

He also said they agreed the deposit payment would be settled a week before the event. 

“To my fans, I truly apologize for any inconvenience and for the efforts by those who were looking forward to seeing me perform. I will make it up to you very soon,” he said.

The artist further said he and his team had been engaging the organisers to honour their part of the deal but to no avail.

“After that, they avoided us even after we tried calling them. After two weeks, they called and said they could only pay two weeks after the event, and we said no because even those South Africans they brought in did not fly for free, and they were well paid and in full, so they should respect us in the same space,” he said.

Because of issues such as these within the industry, Gazza hosted Symphonic Concert, to advocate better working conditions. 

“I bet most Namibian artists at that (Iconic Music Fest) concert were not paid and maybe still have not been paid, and I say most, if not all,” he added.  Gazza further said: “These are the same organisers who brought Burna Boy and gave us Namibian artists the same treatment at that show. 

They very much undermine us and have no respect for local artists, maybe because they are not local themselves, and they have no idea what we have gone through to bring the industry to what it is at this point.”

 According to an artist who performed at the event and who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, they are still waiting for payment. 

“The week is not over yet, so we are waiting for them to pay and that was the agreement we made with the promotor,” said the hopeful artist. 

Numerous efforts to get a comment from Mindscape Events proved futile as they did not respond to questions sent to them. 

-pmukokobi@nepc.com.na