According to an Orlando band Manager, the Festival organizers purposely disinvited Haitian bands on their 8th annual Press Conference. Other nations like Trinidad, Jamaica and Africa were the only ones allowed.
Polo Germain, who is the manager for the Orlando Jazz [KLERE], takes on social media to blast the festival organizers for not giving HMI bands a priority in the yearly event since its owners are Haitian themselves.
Germain says he approached one of the event directors (Fabienne) about why his band wasn’t invited to their Press Conference, and shockingly he was told and we translate ” If we needed you, we would’ve contacted you”. OUCHH! Don’t take it from us? Here’s the video:
All of this comes after the band [Klass]‘s lead singer Pipo Stanis suffered a physical attack while on stage getting ready to perform. Event security and police forcefully removed Pipo after he was unaware of a sudden change in schedule that had African’s star artist Davido to play instead because of timing.
Richie Klass expressed his concern over the incident. “I think Haitian could treat Haitian better”, he said, referring to how Orlando Caribbean Festival mistreated Haitian artists. From the reaction of hard dying Compas fans and some band groups, it is almost a possibility that a boycott may be the solution if no action is taken by the event planners to acknowledge this serious issue inside the Haitian Music Industry.
