Black Sherif had been on Ghanaian timelines in the last few weeks for good reasons. A few swipes here and there, and social media users were likely to see content of Ghana’s Artiste of the Year putting the West African country on the map in Europe.
Ranging from the biggest of Europe’s concerts to the smallest, the Ghanaian musician had played his part with great performances and a delighted crowd who cheered him up along the journey, hoping for a similar welcome upon his return to his home country.
However, on July 19, 2023, Black Sherif landed in the custody of Ghana Police after he arrived in Ghana from his series of shows in Europe and America.
Sources close to the situation claim that the reigning Ghana Music Awards Artiste of the Year was picked up due to a conflict over a show he was booked for. The show was scheduled for August 2023 in Greece.
An inside source close to the situation details that the show promoter, Cruise People Limited agreed to a fee of $40,000 (forty thousand dollars) on specific deliverables after reaching out to Black Sherif’s talent agency based outside of Ghana.
The promoter who did not deal directly with Blacko made an initial deposit of $20,000.
The source claims that “there was no agreement for a press conference and any video submission” in the discussion with Black Sherif’s talent management ahead of the deal.
According to the persons close to the situation, the organisers claimed the ‘Soja’ singer was not the gateway to selling tickets for the Greece show, hence, they did not the aforementioned into artiste’s schedules.
The only contractual agreement is for Blacko to show up and perform without any extra promotion of the event by the artiste, the source added.
Over the failure of not getting the promotional video from Black Sherif, the show promoter threatened to sue the agency. The agency offered to refund the $20,000 initial deposit since the money was paid to them and not directly to the artiste, debunking claims of Blacko having an account in London where money was paid.
However, the show promoter demanded $50,000 instead of the $20,000, the source claimed.
A representative from the promoter’s side, Ghanaian blogger Stephen Mingle popularly known as GH Hyper, who first broke the news of Black Sherif’s alleged arrest claims he was the one who recommended the ‘Second Sermon’ singer to be booked for the show. He disclosed that the show promoter, Mr Van is his uncle.
According to the blogger, Black Sherif charged $40,000 for the annual cruise ship show and he was paid $20,000 as part payment.
“The first edition, he used Gramps Morgan and Amakye Dede. Normally he doesn’t like much hype about it because he has his own target audience,” the representative said.
He continue that “he even spoke to Blacko who directed him on who to speak to so they had a $40,000 agreement and paid $20,000. Blacko was supposed to come to his office because he arranged for the press gathering to do an official announcement and they all agreed but come the day, Blacko didn’t show up even though he was in Ghana“.
He further claims that Blacko was given another chance to do a short promotional video of less than 1 minute but he didn’t do it. The show promoter then realized the Ghanaian musician was not interested in the show and requested for refund, a request Black Sherif’s team have since snubbed.
GH Hyper further claims Gramps Morgan and Baba Saddick were called to intervene but Black Sherif’s camp allegedly ignored them too. The case was then reported to the National Security before the musician left the country with plans to have picked him up before his departure.
However, Black Sherif was picked up at the airport on the night of July 19, after the National Security and CID gathered information about his arrival. According to sources close to the situation, the Ghanaian artiste was asked to document his side of the story with the Ghana Police Service and has been released.
Source:
PULSE MX