LOCAL singer Aisha Retno has expressed her shock and disappointment following the cancellation of her solo concert that was supposed to be held this Saturday (Nov 16).
The concert organiser announced the cancellation in a social media post last Saturday (Nov 9) citing low ticket sales and the “artist’s decision not to postpone the event”.
In light of this incident, Aisha took to Instagram to clarify her side of the story, claiming to have not known about the cancellation and found out about after seeing the organiser’s post on social media.
In her explanation, Aisha alleged that some of the reasons provided by the organisers were “untrue”.
Starting off with the offer to organise a concert for her solo debut, Aisha stated that she did express doubts regarding their confidence in the solo concert.
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“I told them that I was still new to the industry and I feel (that) I need to learn a lot more - collect more assets in terms of songs.
“But when they were so confident with their offer (that) I immediately agreed to it and I (was) looking forward to their planning but since it has come to this, I feel that it is so important for me to open up about this story,” she said.
Next, she mentioned that she could not handle too many big events, festivals and jobs prior to the concert as it is a part of the rules and regulations she has to follow hence noting that she missed out on professional opportunities to perform in certain events.
Responding to online speculation regarding the event, Aisha clarified that she had no “solid plan” to hold a solo concert this year as she just performed in major events such as Anugerah Juara Lagu (AJL) and Hardest Singing Show, just to name a few.
“I just wanted to rest and perform in smaller showcases but when I received such an offer, I took it as a blessing but I did not expect to be on this end of the road,” she added.
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The Sutera singer then alleged that she was not kept up to date on the status of the concert for several months.
“We tried to keep track and follow-up with the organiser for updates but we received none,” Aisha said.
Going over the ticket sales, Aisha believes that the financial and marketing aspects are part of the organiser’s duties, alleging that the organisers shifted these tasks onto her.
“When they released their statement as though they are blaming me for the ticket sales and for no updates regarding Malam Sutera, I felt that this is an absurd (claim) (on their part),” she mentioned.
Not only that, she also assured that she did not want the event to be cancelled, as per the organiser’s claim in their announcement, adding that she would be open for a discussion with the organiser to make the concert happen but claims that the organisers refused to communicate with her side.
In the end, Aisha profusely apologised to her fans, ticket buyers and other parties concerned regarding the unforeseen cancellation.
