Maria McCloy
American hip-hop/jazz/funk singer and bassist Me’Shell NdegeOcello, who was due to perform at this year’s Johannesburg Arts Alive Festival, will not be appearing because of injuries sustained in a car crash.
Arts Alive officials panicked when Ndege- Ocello began cancelling appearances on the European festival circuit, and it was confirmed this week that she would not be able to meet her commitments here, either.
An Arts Alive representative said that although the accident happened a couple of weeks ago, the artist had suffered a relapse when she started performing again shortly afterwards. Her management told Arts Alive that NdegeOcello would not be able to manage the 24-hour-long plane trip to South Africa.
Arts Alive has already started negotiating with major agencies like Creative Artist Management and William Morris to bring out another major artist whose work is in the same league and genre as NdegeOcello.
A spokesperson said although the artist would not be a woman as a list of possible alternatives featured only male artists, “a very big replacement – more well-known and equal to NdegeOcello, or possibly with more status” could be expected.