The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

THE chairman of the Bahamas Junkanoo Music Festival, a new Junkanoo music competition, has accused the Shell Saxon Superstars of breaching their contract by pulling out of its final on Sunday, despite the group leading the field by more than 100 points.

Jamal Taylor said organisers intend to take legal action against the Saxons, who withdrew after a dispute over the order in which the finalists would perform. He accused the group of trying to "sabotage" the event.

The privately organised, first-of-its-kind festival, held at Montagu, pitted Junkanoo groups against each other over three nights in music and choreography. Its $20,000 first prize for music dwarfs the $3,000 Mr Taylor said is awarded for best music at the Boxing Day parade on Bay Street.

"They believed that they were bigger than the programme," Mr Taylor said about the Saxons. "They believe that if they boycotted the event, it would cause harm to the organisers, which I believe it did, and so they are liable for whatever losses we sustained due to their not keeping their contractual commitments."

Mr Taylor said Saxons chairman Toby Austin did not authorise the decision to withdraw. He claimed the group's backline committee made a leadership decision it should not have made, which he said showed a "leadership crisis" within the Saxons.

"I won't call it a leadership problem," Mr Austin responded yesterday. "Some persons were angry, and I think they made a decision, which was unfortunate."

Mr Austin said he had told those in charge of the backline that he never made the call, and that whoever did would have to face the consequences if the matter went to court. However, he said he could not force about 250 people to perform if they refused.

Saxons backline chairman Craig Curtis said the group withdrew because the selection process for the final was changed after the competition had begun.

"For us, it was about the principles, not about the cash prize," he said.

One Family won the festival, taking best music and best choreography. Roots placed second and the World Famous Valley Boys third.

Mr Taylor said the festival lost thousands of dollars and would have drawn a significantly larger audience had the Saxons taken part, although he described Sunday's turnout as "an excellent crowd".

Six groups signed contracts at Nexus Law Chambers to take part, Mr Taylor said. Three were scheduled to perform on Friday and three on Saturday, with the top four advancing to Sunday's final. Each group was required to field at least 150 musicians and 20 dancers, and Genesis was ruled ineligible after failing to meet that requirement.

The two sides gave conflicting accounts of how the order for the final was decided.

Mr Taylor said Mr Austin approached him before the Saxons performed on Saturday and suggested that the highest-scoring group should perform last in the final. He said he tried to accommodate the request, but the other groups objected because it was not what had been agreed.

"Within a matter of seconds, we agreed, okay, since y'all don't want to do that, we will pick again," he said.

According to Mr Taylor, representatives of the four finalists, the Saxons, Roots, One Family and the Valley Boys, then took part in another draw. He said the Saxons picked last and drew the first performance slot, and someone from the group later told him by telephone: "We ain't coming."

Mr Curtis said the contract required groups to pick numbers from a bag to decide the order for Friday and Saturday, with the draw for the final to take place immediately after the four finalists were announced.

He said that after the results were announced, the promoter told the groups the Saxons, as the highest scorers, would perform last, followed by the Valley Boys, One Family and Roots in descending order of their scores.

"Once that decision was made, we left," Mr Curtis said. "We left the arena, and to my knowledge, something transpired that warranted them picking numbers, and I got a call saying that we're coming out first."

Mr Curtis also said the promoter proposed adding a fifth group to the final but dropped the idea after other groups objected.

Mr Taylor said he had tried to add another group to keep the final at the promised four, arguing that the next-ranked group should have advanced once the Saxons withdrew.

He rejected the Saxons' reasons for withdrawing, saying organisers had tried to accommodate the groups. He said the Saxons were originally due to line up at 6.30pm on Sunday, but after speaking with Mr Austin he agreed to push the deadline back to 8pm so the group could hold an emergency meeting.

"They never showed, no one ever called, no communication was ever sent," Mr Taylor said.

Second place in music paid $15,000, third $10,000 and fourth to sixth $5,000 each. The choreography prizes were $5,000 for first, $3,000 for second, $2,000 for third and $1,000 each for the rest. Mr Taylor said best choreography on Bay Street pays $800.