KARACHI: Organizers of a music festival in Islamabad said on Wednesday they had sorted out a payment issue with two Pakistani singers who accused its management of scamming people by inviting prominent artists to concerts without making timely payments.
Asim Azhar and Hasan Raheem refused to perform at the Summer Jam Color Festival on Sunday while asking their fans on social media to avoid future gigs by its organizers.
They also threatened to take legal action against the festival management who “fooled the fans in buying tickets & getting sponsors by using our names” while not paying them.
“There was a miscommunication and a scenario was built up in the heat of the moment,” Saad Rao, owner of Eleven Productions that organized the event, told Arab News.
“It is all sorted between us and the artists,” he continued. “There are multiple nationwide shows lined up for the future so we will adjust the payments accordingly.”
Rao said the stage was damaged due to rain on the second day of the concert when Azhar and Raheem were scheduled to perform, adding the organizers could not improvise on time since it was also screening a cricket match on the other side of the venue.
He maintained it was not possible to extend the show either since the official permit of the program required people to vacate the venue by 11pm.
“We had paid 50 to 60 percent of the amount to the artists prior to the show,” Rao said while answering a question about the payment issue. “There were no sponsors on board. Whoever is demanding a refund through our pages, we are refunding them.”
Speaking to Arab News, Azhar’s manager Aadil Malik confirmed that things had been sorted out with the festival management.
“The organizers will pay the dues to the artist, so there is nothing to talk about,” he said.
The festival management initially released a statement on Facebook, denying the claims made by the artists.
“We have been in this industry for the past five years,” read the statement, adding that the company had also organized big shows in Lahore and Islamabad in the past which featured the same artists along with other prominent names from the local music industry.
“The disregard of past work and relation with the organizers expressed by the artist/artist manager is particularly disappointing,” said the statement. “We had every intent to pay the artist and that was communicated to the managers as well. All other artists that performed are a proof that we stand by our commitment.”
Uzair Jaswal, who performed on the first day of the show, told Arab News that his experience was fine.
“There were no issues on day one,” he said. “It’s unfortunate to hear what happened on the second day.”
