One ‘star’ falls off Stars Festival tree
The highly-billed Christmas with The Stars Festival has faced a slight setback after one of the ‘stars’ lined up to perform during the day-long event rapper Fredokiss has withdrawn from the event.
The hip-hop artist was among 11 urban music heavyweights that were announced as part of the line-up of performers for the event slated for Lilongwe Golf Club on Christmas Day. The festival has been organised by Tay Grin’s Black Rhyno Entertainment stable and the rapper is one of the performers.
But in a move that has surprised many music lovers, on Tuesday Fredokiss, who is currently in Johannesburg, South Africa, announced through his Facebook page that he will not be part of the much-publicised festival.
He wrote: “Dear Team Fredo. It was a mistake to include us on this poster. I will not attend this event, but if you can make it go and have fun with the other artists.”
When contacted to find out reasons behind his sudden announcement and stand, the Ndikatseka Maso creator was coy and asked The Nation to first talk to organiser of the event, Tay Grin.
In his reaction, Tay Grin said he could not offer a concrete response on the matter since he had also just seen communication on social media and he was yet to be briefed by his counterpart.
Hours later, the Chipapa hit-maker posted an updated list of performers for the festival, minus Fredokiss’ name. The list retained the core of other performers such as Phyzix, Piksy, Hyphen, Barry Uno, Tuno, Charisma, Patience Namadingo, Achina Gattah Ase and Henry Czar.
Commenting on the Saturday event, Tay Grin said going by the spirit of the season, they want to make it a complete family friendly gathering, which will have elements catering for people of all ages.
He said: “Like you have heard from our announcements, we are trying to reach out to each and every section of our audience, from children to their parents.
“We will make special arrangements to have the stars perform some of their songs with a youthful appeal such as Chipapa early enough before the business of the day gets to its climax.”
The rapper said it has been a long year with the fortunes of people being swayed one way and the other because of challenges such as the global Covid-19 pandemic. He said the festival is a perfect way to close off the year, as the country hopes for a better 2022.
Tay Grin’s close buddy Namadingo appeared to add to the momentum of the event when he commented on Tay Grin’s Facebook post: “I am coming to this festival. Namafans are coming. Thanks to you and your team for organising this blast!”
