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Vybz Kartel. - Contributed
Last week, The Associated Press reported a decision by Guyana's state-owned radio network to ban Kartel's music following a week of internal debate. They further announced that they are in the process of reviewing the lyrics of other musicians.
National Communications Network (NCN) spokesman Martin Goolsarran was quoted as saying that the music of Vybz Kartel was banned because it brought "nothing positive" to the entertainment industry.
However, reports reaching The STAR are that Kartel's music, or at least some of his songs, are back on radio in the country. A correspondent at the Stabroek News in Guyana told The STAR that a source at the NCN confirmed that Kartel's music is now allowed to be played by the radio and TV station. The correspondent reported that Kartel's non-explicit songs are and have been playing since the ban.
When contacted, Kartel said he had also heard of this from a friend who plays on radio in Georgetown, Guyana. He said, "I feel, or rather I know the Gaza fans in Guyana outnumber every other artiste's fan base, regionally and internationally."
Following the news that he had been banned, Kartel insisted that he would not be going to the country again. In August, the deejay left a Caribbean Airlines plane minutes before take-off and left the promoters of a show in Guyana in a panic. The artiste was on board a flight destined to take him to Guyana where he would be appearing at the 'Jam Zone Summer Break' show along with Mavado. In 2009, the artiste had also pulled a similar no-show for a Guyanese show after claiming that he was receiving death threats.
The deejay previously told The STAR that he will not be visiting the country ever again and that, "I would sooner tour Iraq than go to Guyana."
Despite being back on the airwaves, the deejay says that he stands firm to his personal ban on the country. "I cannot take back the spoken word. I love Guyanese people in general but for security reasons, I'm gonna chill out from there for the foreseeable future," he said.
