Isat Buchanan, the attorney-at-law representing Solid Agency, has appealed to dancehall star Popcaan to retract his statements regarding the booking company’s principal Sharon Burke “in a reasonable time”.

Popcaan accused Burke of attempting to “sabotage” his performance at the Burna Boy concert at the National Stadium in Kingston over the weekend.

However, Buchanan rubbished the allegations while demanding a retraction.

“At all material times, it is public knowledge that Sharon Burke and Solid Agency are not responsible for the sound (engineering). Now, we are appealing to good sense that the legal advisors of Popcaan will allow him to retract in reasonable time the defamatory statements that were made,” Buchanan told OBSERVER ONLINE.

A release sent out by the organisers of the show, which include Solid Agency, apologised for technical difficulties with the sound on the night of the event, and for flaws in crowd control, particularly in the Ultra VIP area.

Buchanan said that the ‘magnitude of the show’ and the positive spin on Jamaica’s standing in the international entertainment space with a successful staging of said event, should not be overshadowed by “miscommunication”.

“We know that there were technical difficulties, but we cannot allow a situation where there is no clarity in the post mortem, that detracts from the fact that Jamaica can host an international show of this magnitude and outdo our sister countries at a first world standard,” he said.

Buchanan said that Popcaan, technical glitches aside, provided “magical moments” during his performance and the Unruly Boss should not allow this brouhaha to sully the memory of that event.

“His advisers should advise him that, as an international artiste, and a man of great stature, who delivered several magical moments on stage with reggae icon Beres Hammond, and introduced a brilliant female artiste, Toni Ann Singh, to the world, that he gave an exceptional, unruly performance full of energy and vigour,” he said.

Buchanan pointed to several positives coming out of the event.

“By hosting the Burna Boy concert on the 18th, the event was a preview of the growth of the JCF, as it was a crime-free event; we were not embarrassed on the world stage and the patrons conducted themselves admirably, this was an opportunity to showcase our best selves and say ‘this is Jamaica’ and it was great,” he said.

Buchanan said that ‘cooler heads should prevail’ before litigation becomes the sole recourse.

“Where performance is concerned, this is an opportunity for all parties involved to recognise that they were part of something great, and must maintain a sense of professionalism, and never fall when they rise so high,” he said.

However, the two parties may be heading towards a Mexican standoff as Popcaan may be sticking to his guns.

Ron Young, the attorney-at-law representing Popcaan, said his client was “understandably infuriated by the technical issues” that he said “shortchanged the Jamaican fans he loves to perform for at the highest level”.

“Any issues related to that will be ventilated and resolved in due course,” Young had told OBSERVER ONLINE.

– Claude Mills