Award-winning Nigerian singer and songwriter, Temilade Openiyi better known as Tems, has cancelled her eagerly anticipated show in Kenya’s capital city Nairobi.
The ‘Crazy Things’ crooner was due to perform at the Tukutane Festival on October 15, at the Jamuhuri Sports Grounds and tickets to the show had already started selling from Sh2,000.
According to Nation, the singer shared the news with her disappointed fans on Thursday night, October 6, in a post where she described the move as heartbreaking. “Hey, Kenya.
Honestly, it’s quite heartbreaking to say this, but I will not be able to perform at the Tukutane Festival due to circumstances beyond my control. “I am as disappointed as you all are but I look forward to coming and giving you a show that you deserve. Love you all,” she said.
The event organisers Tukutane announced that they would be rescheduling the Tukutane Festival at a later date, accusing the Nigerian musician of pulling a surprise on them despite paying her performance fees.
The organisers added that they would refund anyone who had bought the tickets in full. “Sadly Tems has cancelled her show in Nairobi on October 15 due to circumstances completely unexpected to us,” Tukutane wrote on social media.
“As of three days ago, all was going according to schedule and plan. We paid for Tems in full 15 days before the performance date and to our surprise as soon as the payment was made, her manager mentioned that she is no longer comfortable coming to Kenya and just does not want to perform for her Kenya fans. We were in shock, heartbroken and financially wounded,” the organisers added in a statement.
Tems rose to fame at the height of the global Covid-19 pandemic after featuring on Wizkid’s ‘Essence’ smash hit that was deemed 2021’s song of the summer. The hit earned her a Grammy nomination and catapulted her to new levels.
Since then, she has scored other major accolades (like winning Best International Act at the 2022 BET Awards) and collaborated with top-tier artists like Drake and Future and most recently featured on ‘Move’ off of Beyonce’s ‘Renaissance’ album.
She had fans in a chokehold with her rendition of Bob Marley’s ‘No Woman, No Cry’ featured in the trailer for the Black Panther sequel.
This is coming days after Nigerian upcoming singer GodsFavour Chidozie, popularly known as Fave called out Kenyan show promoters over how they treated her and her team during their visit to the country.
Fave has taken a swipe at Kenyan show promoters for being hostile towards her and her team. Taking to Twitter, the singer spoke about the unfair treatment she received in Kenya.
Fave also disclosed that their flight back to Nigeria was cancelled. The “Mr. Man” crooner shared on Twitter: “Kenyan fans thank you so much for the love but this has to be the worst hostile treatment we’ve ever received by show promoters. The last act of wickedness was canceling our flights back to Lagos. No love. I wish you guys the best.”
Not done, he Headies-nominated songstress took the brawl to Instagram where she directly tagged the promoters of her concert and called them out on their incompetence saying that it was a teaching experience for her.
“@thriftsocialnairobi you guys are all terrible people. How do you invite us to your country and abandon us, refuse to pay, and cancel our tickets? What a teaching experience,” she wrote on her Instagram stories.
She went on to advise her followers that they should be-ware of the promoters labelling them thieves.
“Wherever you hear ‘thriftsocialnairobi’, my advice would be run because they’re a bunch of thieves. A lady on dada and a couple of other guys. Find God,” she added. The concert, which was to take place at Hidden Gardens, Karen was moved to Carnivore’s Simba Saloon on Saturday, September 24, 2022.
