Major changes for Sumfest 2002

Johnny Gourzong

RED STRIPE Reggae Sumfest has made several changes to next year's festival. The changes have come in response to an incident on Dancehall Night of this year's festival which caused the night's proceedings to end prematurely.

At a press conference called by the organisers of the festival, Summerfest Productions, and the main sponsors, Red Stripe, at the Red Stripe Hospitality Suite in Kingston, the organisers sought to outline the necessary changes that would take place for next year's festival.

Among the changes that are scheduled to take place is the prevention of artistes involved in feuds with other artistes from performing on the festival, and artistes who are found to consistently engage in the use of negative lyrics, expletives, and who denigrate women, will not be considered for the festival.

"Such lyrics in our opinion are devoid of any musical creativity and are not worthy of being showcased on an international stage such as Red Stripe Reggae Sumfest," said Johnny Gourzong, Director of Summerfest Productions.

The artiste will also receive the 50 per cent balance of his fee after that he has performed, providing that the performance has been in keeping with the terms of the contract.

Other changes include the pouring of drinks, the retrieval of bottles throughout the night and the instructing of the technical producer, stage manager, on-stage engineer, and house engineer to mute any artistes deemed to be using offensive language or conducting themselves in a manner not in keeping with the terms of the contract.

The emcee's contracts will also be revisited. "It was found that on Dancehall Night, the emcees did not conduct themselves in a professional manner, knowing fully well that Reggae Sumfest has never promoted clashes between deejays. I personally, on a number of occasions, asked that they desist from making any reference to a clash. Eventually there was compliance but regrettably it came too late," Gourzong said.

The organisers also said they would re-examine access to the general backstage area, with a view to strengthening the overall security level. Artistes will also be required to clear with the promoter their intention of inviting other artistes on-stage. The artistes will be required to provide details of the song being performed before such a request is approved.

Other changes include accreditation of artistes and members of their entourages. Vehicles will be searched and metal detectors will be installed at the service entrance, as has already been the case at the main entrance.

Artistes who arrive late at the venue and had made no prior contact with the promoter as it relates to their late arrival will not be allowed to perform and will forfeit any balance of their performance fee.

"It is clear that the incident on dancehall night impacted negatively on the festival, as our investigations indicate that many potential sponsors stayed away on the three subsequent nights, costing the company millions of dollars in lost revenue," Gourzong added.

The organisers said that while Snoop Dogg and Ja Rule were well received by the young fans who were familiar with their lyrics, the use of the f-word was offensive to many of the more mature patrons.

"In view of the fact that Red Stripe Reggae Sumfest appeals to such a wide cross-section of persons, it has become clear to us that in contracting international artistes we should perhaps focus on R&B singers and other popular artistes rather than those of the hip-hop genre," Gourzong added.

In the meantime, Red Stripe said it condemned the violence which had taken place on Dancehall Night. "We do not condone violence in any shape or form. We promote fun, the easy vibes, peace and justice," said John Irving, President of Red Stripe.

The sponsors said that Red Stripe Beer and reggae were known worldwide and it was the intent of the company to keep music at the top of the totem pole. Consequently, the sponsors said if they were walk away from Sumfest they would have been cutting the festival's lifeline and succumbing to ugly beast of indiscipline.

As a result Red Stripe pledged their continued support to the development of the music which they say has provided gainful employment for a wide cross-section of persons.

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