Coventry band offered 'laughable' fee to play upcoming Godiva Festival

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Fareed Siddiqui said they had agreed to play at Godiva Festival this year but were dropped by Coventry City Council



A Coventry band said they are hugely disappointed after being offered a 'laughable' fee to play the Godiva Festival. Manager Fareed Siddiqui said he was approached by Coventry City Council to perform on two days, but claimed after sending over their rates and receiving a smaller offer, the band was dropped.

Fareed, 52, told CoventryLive that Impact Steel Band was approached by Coventry City Council earlier this year to play at the Godiva Festival in July. He initially agreed but said that when the group sent over their fee, they were told they were no longer needed.

He said it was a 'shame' they would not be performing in his home city when they have been touring across the UK. Fareed said city-based artists were being pushed away from the Godiva Festival, which he described as 'madness.'

Fareed, from Coventry, said: “We are not asking for exorbitant amounts of money. We are just asking for a fair rate to have a full band.”

Fareed refused to disclose the fee offered by Coventry City Council but described it as 'laughable.' He said: “Well, there is no way any band with any self-respect should ever accept that for a full band.”

“Headliners, they are not going to be debating what they are paying them, as they will be saying this is how much we charge, and guaranteed they are paying that.”

Fareed said they performed at the Godiva Festival many years ago when the hugely popular event was free to attend. He said: “I just personally think there is not enough support with the local talent when it comes to such enormous events like Godiva. It is just a shame that we regularly travel around the country, which we love doing, but it would be so nice to be performing in our own city.”

Fareed said they are a hugely busy band who have performed in the Caribbean and will this year be playing at Blenheim Palace and Notting Hill Carnival. He said: “We are all over the place, but the irony is that we just do not seem to do hardly any performances in our hometown which is madness, but when you have this type of issue with a body like Coventry City Council, you just think why bother because they always want to penny pinch when it comes to the local artists.”

Coventry City Council said that while performers' costs can be one of the many elements in planning, Impact Steel Band was 'unable to perform at the time slots required.' However, Mr Siddiqui said the band, which features 10 to 12 musicians, was available for both days of the Godiva Festival, which runs from July 4 to 6 at War Memorial Park.