Poor Services Forces Jamaican Musicians To Switch Harare Hotel
Jamaican music group, Brick & Lace met with a few shocks when they arrived at the Rainbow Towers Hotel in Harare on August 23. According to Zimbabwe Tourism Authority Chief Executive, Karikoga Kaseke, there was no water in the Five Star facility. Added onto this was poor service which forced the two musicians and their team to move hotels.
Brick & Lace (Nyanda and Nailah Thorbourne), pictured at their presser in Harare, August 24, 2010.
Apparently, one of the incidents which led to them leaving The Rainbow Towers- apart from there being no running water in their rooms when they arrived- was a room service order for a coke which took two hours to come. An upset Kaseke told journalists at a press conference yesterday that he would deal with the situation. “It’s something that is very disturbing to us… It’s a very bad surprise for me and action will definitely be taken,” he said.
Brick & Lace, real names Nyanda and Nailah Thorbourne, are now at the Meikles Hotel. Commenting on the move, they said that they were not purturbed. “We don’t wanna talk about the incident anymore, it’s in the past. We’re here to have a good time with the people as we do in the other countries we visit in Africa.” said Nyanda. Agreeing with her, Nailah added: “We have seven days here and want to relish every moment here.”
The press conference, which was set for 1530hrs, only started after 1700hrs, apparently due to the group’s move of hotels. After that little bit of embarrassing business was revealed, the discussion moved on to the ladies’ stay in Zimbabwe and their plans for their week-long visit.
The two sisters will visit the Victoria Falls, sample Zimbabwean food at a traditional restaurant and see other tourist attractions in the country before their performances in Mutare on Friday and in Harare on Saturday.
Journalists waited about two hours for the musical duo to arrive.
They revealed that neither them is called Brick nor Lace. “Our older sister Tasha was in the group a few years back. Back then our name was still Brick & Lace. Brick signifies strength in a woman, you know, her gritty, edgy side… and Lace just means she’s sexy, she’s feminine, she’s gonna be a woman. Brick & Lace signifies the strength and the beautiful side of a woman- the dichotomy of a woman and that’s who we are,” said Nailah.
Asked if they followed the Rastafarian religion they said that they were Christians but respected Rastafarians, Moslems and other religions.
They drew loud squeals of laughter from the room when they admitted that they smoke weed “occasionally.”
They also had the journalists gathered in laughter after they were asked if they had sampled Zimbabwean food yet and they responded that they were not sure what Zim food was but they had eaten samoosas.
An H-Metro reporter, in the true mechant spirit of their paper, prodded “so you had samoosas for lunch?” and there was another round of mirth.
And yes, someone did ask if they are married. The answer was “Yes, we have loved ones.”
The sisters said that both of them have very strong personalities and so they argue often, especially in the studio, but that it always works out in the end.
Brick & Lace pose for pictures with with Miss Tourism Zimbabwe, Samantha Tshuma after the presser.
“For this show every body needs to come out. What we can promise is that you’ll have fun at the show. You’ll see many sides to us that you probably didn’t know we had,” said Nailah about their upcoming performance on Saturday. Nyanda added, “We’re definitely bringing a strong Jamaican presence… we always have fun with the fans, it’s always a great energy. For us the best part of this industry is the performing… Everywhere we go, I feel people get a stronger sense of who we are when they see us live.”
