THE jury is still out on whether or not the authorities in The Bahamas will grant permission for the March 19 concert featuring Jamaican act Shenseea to go ahead.
The organisers of the event, advertised for the National Stadium in Nassau, have been lobbying that country’s Ministry of Health and Wellness in order to prevent the event being cancelled.
According to the organisers, they can match the COVID-19 protocols which have been put in place for major venues, including the hotels on the island which have been granted permission to host major events in recent months like a New Year’s Eve event at the Atlantis resort on Paradise Island which featured pop star Doja Cat, as well as the planned Sheryl Crow concert set for May 28.
In a television interview, Raynold Culmer of show promoters Guidance noted that as as young entrepreneurs and people in the industry, they feel like just as the hotels are given the opportunity to stage major events, they should be able to get involved as well.
“That’s just how we look at it. We don’t think we’re better than anybody; we just feel like we should be afforded the same opportunities. That’s what we look at and that’s why we’re still hopeful in having this event, because we can match the protocols of the hotel. We can hire the people necessary to get it done. We feel like we’re capable of doing that and so, again, we’re just being hopeful that the Ministry of Health can hear us out and give us a shot,” he noted.
Among the protocols being proposed by the promoters are a COVID-19 test with each ticket purchase as well as adequate numbers of health personnel on site.
Last month, organisers of a concert featuring Jamaican artiste Dexta Daps were forced to postpone the event as they were not granted permission to move ahead.
Meanwhile, a recent letter to the editor of the Tribune newspaper in The Bahamas is calling for Shenseea to be banned.
“I am elated that Health Minister Dr Michael Darville has not given the Bahamian promoters permission to go ahead with the concert. Even if COVID-19 were not a factor, event organisers should still not be given approval. Like the cancelled Dexta Daps event, my main problem with Shenseea is her raunchy, vulgar message, performance and dressing, which would undermine the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) Government’s attempts to eradicate gender-based violence. Signed to the American record label Interscope, Shenseea is obviously hoping to tap into the lucrative American market. The US Constitution in its First Amendment allows for the smut that the dancehall music industry produces without any fear of censorship… Shenseea has a massive platform that the Bahamian promoters are obviously attempting to capitalise on for financial gain, but I think that the PLP Government must look beyond the financial aspect of this event and look at the overall picture. There’s some things more important than money,” the letter penned by Kevin Evans from Freeport, Grand Bahama noted.
“Shenseea’s main message is the sexual objectification of women. The PLP Government must understand that allowing Shenseea to perform her lewd acts on stage would undermine its message that it is opposed to all forms of gender-based violence against women and girls. The PLP Government should simply outright ban Shenseea from performing in The Bahamas. Send the message to these Bahamian promoters and foreign entertainers that this country will not tolerate the public degrading of our women and girls,” the letter continued.
Source: Jamaica Observer
