Zimbabwe awards show postponed to accommodate Marleys
Published:Tuesday | December 1, 2015 | 12:00 AMShereita Grizzle
According to news coming from the Zimbabwean media, there was a misunderstanding over the weekend regarding a sum of money paid to members of the Marley family's management team.
Organisers of the Zimbabwe Music Awards (Zima) said there was miscommunication in their negotiations to bring in a member of Bob Marley's family to accept a Lifetime Achievement Award at the upcoming show on his behalf.
Zimbabwe newspaper, the Zimbabwean, is reporting that after paying US$4,500, the Marley family had not been approached regarding the award and who would accept it. According to the paper, Joseph Nyadzayo, Zima chairman, on Thursday revealed that Zima had been in talks with Julian Marley, through his management.
The report stated that Julian's management had expressed a willingness to receive the award, requesting that Zima deposit US$4,500 as a booking fee to have the artiste clear his schedule to travel to Zimbabwe.
"We were dealing with Ras Jabulani (Trevor Hall), who knows Michael Campbell - Julian Marley's agent," explained Nyadzayo. "We'd paid (the money) to secure a booking, but it has since come to our attention that we were supposed to approach the Bob Marley Foundation and not a family member to award Bob Marley. The foundation is the one which will forward the request to Marley's family."
Bob Marley Music manager, Doreen Crujeiras, raised the alarm last week and has since advised the organisers of Zima on how to move forward with their arrangements.
"After we got a phone call from Doreen, we called Michael to ask him if he knew her. He agreed and told us she was the right person to discuss Marley affairs with," he said.
Indications were that Julian would be able to travel early next year, hence Zima's decision to postpone the awards ceremony from October 2015 to next year. A date had not been set, as Julian had not yet communicated on when he would be travelling. Nyadzayo says they have since communicated with Campbell, who acknowledged the role played by Crujeiras in Marley affairs.
NOTIFICATION OF INVITATION
The Zima chairman says they are now dealing with Crujeiras in all correspondence and have since emailed a letter to her with a request to award Bob Marley. "I've sent her the letter of notification and invitation. She promised to forward our letter to the family and said she would help us to communicate with the family," Nyadzayo said.
After recent talks with Crujeiras, Zima organisers are confident that the Marley family will accept the Lifetime Achievement Award. "Indications are positive and what we're waiting for is a date when the family will be available to come and accept the award. Crujeiras says the family was happy that we're honouring Bob Marley after 35 years of his death."
Zima wants to honour the late Marley for the role he played in supporting Zimbabwe's struggle for independence in 1980 and hopes to also have the I-Three present at the ceremony as they performed with Bob Marley in Zimbabwe.