Mavado blasts local promoters after no-show at National Stadium

Aug 19, 2013 News

By Latoya Giles

Jamaican Dancehall star David Constantine Brooks, known as ‘Mavado’ yesterday blasted the Slingerz Promotion Group for his non-appearance on Saturday night at the national stadium. Thousands of fans turned up on Saturday night to hear the popular dancehall artist perform, as part of the “Slingerz Summer Show.” Instead, Mavado was a no-show and fans left angry and disappointed.
“Promoters have to understand that they cannot put people in certain situations” said Brooks who held a press conference after lunch yesterday to explain why he did not appear as he was scheduled to be the main performer. Brooks is allegedly still owed US $25,000 by the promoters.
Accusing the promoters of breach of contract, Brooks told reporters that he left Jamaica on Saturday morning at 06:00 hrs and never arrived in Guyana until some 19 hours later. Brooks said that promoters promised to send a “private jet” to transport him along with 15 band members. However promoters sent a “Cessna Aircraft” which had no bathroom facilities.

Dancehall Star David Brooks known as “Mavado”

Brooks said that the only reason he got onto the aircraft was for his love and respect for his Guyanese fans. “Its only because I respect Guyanese I got on that plane…I had enough respect to do that but the promoters didn’t have any” Brooks said. He further explained that they were informed that they would have to make a stop in Curacao. He said that he was told by the pilot that the flying time from Kingston, Jamaica was an hour and a half. However, the dancehall artist said that the plane took some five and half hours to reach Curacao. “Imagine sitting on a plane for almost six hours without any toilet…it was horrible” Brooks said.
After leaving Curacao thinking that they were heading straight to Guyana, the plane again made a stop in Trinidad. Brooks said that the flight from Curacao to Trinidad lasted an “eternity”. He said that he was still trying to keep his “cool” because of the fact that he knew Guyanese are always welcoming towards him. He said that they were told by the pilot that they were stopping in Trinidad because they did not have clearance from the airport in Georgetown. However Brooks asked how could have been possible when Guyana was the destination.
He said that he finally arrived in Guyana after 23:00hrs on Saturday. The Jamaican said that he along with his wife and band members all checked into a hotel. Brooks said that as part of the contract, the promoters were to meet him in his hotel room and pay off for the show. This never happened; instead the promoters kept calling and saying that there were coming.
“Thirty minutes turned into an hour, then an hour turned into several hours” Brooks said. He further stated that he was in the hotel room dressed and waiting on the promoters to come over, but no one came.
He said that eventually promoters came sometime around 04:00hrs and said that the show only had 15 minutes left. Brooks said that he was placed in a very uncomfortable and embarrassing situation, which made him look as though he did not want to perform in Guyana. He maintained that he had no problem sharing the stage with any of the other artistes who were booked for Saturday night’s show.

The aircraft that transported Mavado and his team

Brooks said that he knew that his fans had to have been disappointed, and he therefore chose to stay behind and work out with other local promoters about doing a “make up” show. According to the singer, promoters have been able to make the requisite calls and he will be performing tonight at the Guyana National Stadium. He said that tickets will cost only $1000 and he has undertaken to pay personally for the first 500 patrons to arrive. Brooks said that he intends to make tonight’s show exceptional, which is being sponsored by Good Vibes promotion out of Buxton.
In terms of the breaching of contract by Slingerz, Brooks said that he could make it very uncomfortable for the group and bring on one of the biggest lawsuits for them, but would not do it. “I have the best lawyers; I could it make it difficult for them, but it’s not even about the money, my main focus to make the people happy” Brooks said. He admitted that he had worked with Slingerz before and nothing of this nature has ever happened. Up until press time Brooks’ representatives told Kaieteur News that they have not received any word from the “Slingerz Promotion Group”.
‘Mavado’ was expected to headline the Slingerz Summer show with fellow Jamaican artiste “Tommy Lee”. However, only Lee appeared.