AFTER signing with Mshasho Productions less than a year ago, the members of energetic kwaito group Fresh Family announced that they are no longer part of the music label which is home to kwaito star Martin ‘The Dogg’ Morocky.
According to Mshasho CEO Knowledge Ipinge, the kwaito group was dropped from the label because of a breach of contract. ‘Even though it was clearly stated in the contract that all communications, written or oral, received by or on behalf of the Fresh Family relating to the services and appearances of the group was to be done by Mshasho, on a number of occasions this did not happen and the group even performed at shows without the knowledge of the label,’ said Ipinge. He further said that the termination of the contract was initiated by the label, although the group says that it was their decision to leave Mshasho because the label did not live up to its promises. Group member Martin ‘V Fresh’ Valentine says they had recorded a number of tracks and their album was supposed to be released by February this year but it did not happen. He said the Ongwediva-based group felt neglected as they were not promoted by the label at all.Ipinge shot down these claims, stating that the release of the Fresh Family album was only scheduled for May 4. He said this can be proven, as it is on the Mshasho 2012 calendar which was released online at the end of November last year.All the material that the group recorded while with Mshasho now belongs to the music label and Fresh Family will have to fork out N$40 000 to recover it. Valentine says although this is a setback, the group will head to the studio soon to continue working on their album. ‘We wish Mshasho Productions all the best for the future and thank them for the time that we have been signed up,’ he concluded.
