Luciano not coming to Ebola hit Africa, cancels Malawi trip
Jamaican reggae singer Luciano has cancelled his tour of Africa, which included a performance in Malawi, over Ebola fears despite confirming his coming last month.
Popularly known as the Jah Messenger, Luciano was scheduled to perform in Malawi on October 19 at Lilongwe Golf Club together with a number of local artists in a concert being organised by South African-based Malawi reggae artist Born Afrikan.
“Because of fears associated with the spreading Ebola panic in western Africa, Luciano is still in the island, he has changed his mind about going to Africa. I can confirm that he is not going to Africa.
“Luciano was all set to go on Saturday, but he has been doing his research about the disease and changed his mind,” Luciano’s booking agent, Sonia Sterling, is quoted by www.loopjamaica.com as saying.
She explained that Luciano got a health scare, which might have played a role in his decision.
“Luciano did the yellow fever shot the week before and the thing with that is that the shot pulls you down for a few days because it introduces a virus in your body.
“Then, to make matters worse, he got Chikungunya [an illness with an acute febrile phase lasting two to five days] the next day, so we had to change the ticket from Tuesday to Saturday.
“He recuperated and then began to start read up and said ‘this thing is dangerous’. I offered to cancel Ghana and just do South Africa, but he doesn’t want to do it,” further reads the news article.
Sterling said the promoters in Africa will be losing a lot of money because of the cancelled shows in Malawi on October 19 and subsequent shows in South Africa.
“We had seven dates lined up. This tour was booked from February for shows in Zimbabwe, Malawi and South Africa. We are trying to work things out with the promoters, possibly doing the shows without paying the balance.
“The promoters are trying hard for it to happen, but Luciano is not going, I can confirm that,” she said.
Efforts to talk to Afrikan proved futile as his mobile phone kept on giving a voice message that he is busy and that he will call back later. He has not called back.
