STITCHIE is demanding an apology from the organisers of the annual Genesis Gospel Festival, saying there was a breach in the stipulation of a contract regarding his performance in Montego Bay on Sunday night.

The Gospel reggae artiste said Jamaica Youth For Christ (YFC) recorded parts of his performance at the concert, even though he did not agree to this in his contract.

“They told us that in order for us to be on the show, they wanted to record a song or two to put on a live DVD for sale – without any compensation to the artiste they were taping,” Stitchie told the Observer yesterday

“This was not something that I agreed to, because this is my livelihood,” he said.

However, the concert ended on a sour note after Stitichie erupted in anger when he realised that he was being recorded.

Stitchie said he had originally agreed to perform at all three Genesis concerts that were scheduled to take place in Mandeville, Montego Bay and Kingston. He said, however, that the organisers dropped him from the Kingston concert – the largest of the three events – after he refused to be recorded.

According to Stitchie, the parties agreed that he would do the Mandeville and Montego Bay legs outside of the glare of the cameras, and that this was covered in his contract.

“We agreed to do Mandeville and Montego Bay without no live recording of me – audio or visual,” he said.

“It was clearly stated in the contract, and they have a copy of that; and that was the agreement that was made between them and my management,” he said.

Stitichie said the agreement was honoured in Mandeville.

But he told the Observer that when he arrived in Montego Bay – where he was the headline act – his 5:00 pm performance was delayed for about three hours.

Before it was time for him to perform, he said he noticed that there were videographers recording the performances. His management team, he said, tried to rectify the situation, but were unable to locate a representative from YFC.

In a previous interview, Barrington Sergeant, YFC’s regional director , told the Observer that Stitchie had not raised his concern with any of the organisers.

But yesterday Stitchie told the Observer that his team could not “find the management or the representative downstairs, so we spoke to the people who were operating the cameras”.

“They were recording, so they must have been given some approval by the representatives,” he continued.

Stitchie said when his manager approached one of the camera men, he was “very abrasive” in his response to a request to stop recording.

After Stitchie hit the stage, he informed the audience that his contract was being breached because the cameras were still recording.

“They refused to turn off the cameras, and I insisted that if they continued recording me they would be speaking to my lawyer, because we have no agreement for them to do that,” he said.

Stitchie said his rights were violated and that he had all reason to be upset.

“What is wrong with being angry?” he asked. “Am I supposed to accept it and roll over and to say that I am humble, so that they can use and abuse me?”

“These people decide – and they have been doing it over the years – to prostitute gospel artistes and use and abuse their gifts to suit their own pockets. And, because I was not in agreement with that, they choose to try and tarnish my character.”

Nevertheless, Stitchie said his only regret is that the patrons who stayed up all night waiting to see his performance did not get to see a full performance.

“I am so sorry that they were denied that, and I will make it up to them at another point, but not under the platform of the YFC representatives in Montego Bay,” he said.