ISSA: There’s no contract with Ollivierre
THE Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) says it never contracted Mike Ollivierre to produce a theme song for this year’s Boys’ & Girls’ Athletic Championships, and in fact made it clear months ago that they already had a song and was not interested in a new one.
“Mr Ollivierre approached ISSA with Frankie Campbell and presented a dub of a song. We did not like it and we told him that we did not like it.
“We already have a theme song for ‘Champs’, which is Hol a Vibes on which we spent a lot of money a few years ago,” Committee chairperson Colleen Montague told the Observer yesterday.
The Wolmer’s Girls’ principal was responding to an Observer report last Friday in which Ollivierre said he had got permission from the schools sports governing body to record the song entitled Lord Have Mercy.
“After recording it, I’m really getting some negative vibes,” Ollivierre told the Observer.
However, Montague challenged Ollivierre’s claims.
“He said he wanted to fix it up, so we said ‘Okay, if you want to go and fix it up and come back, that’s up to you, but it has nothing to do with us’. He came back with it the second time and we still did not like the quality,” Montague said.
Montague said ISSA told the former St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) coach from as early as November last year that it was not interested in a new number for the centenary celebration of the meet.
“He kept pushing, (but) we never had a contractual arrangement. We never told him to go out and produce a song to come and be part of the whole event. He did it all on his own,” Montague said, adding that the decision was an executive one and was based on several factors.
“If we were looking for a song it needed to have a fresh sound and it did not have the sound that we would’ve wanted… If we were looking for a song it would have to be something that would capture the interest of our children,” she said.
According to Montague, ISSA first stated its position verbally, but was forced to inform Ollivierre in writing upon learning that he was distributing his ‘tribute’.
“… We made sure to write formally to say ‘thank you for showing an interest, but we’re not interested in the product you have’,” she said.
Ollivierre had said that even if the song is not an official theme song he would like to be a part of the celebration in some way. A big opening ceremony is planned for Tuesday, March 23.
“I got a letter saying that they’re thanking me for making this contribution, but they have other plans in mind. I really don’t think that that has been a fair submission, so I’m still pursuing a way to have my song as part of the activity for Champs,” he said.
However, Montague said based on recent events, that was unlikely to happen.
“He’s asking us to include something that just does not fit in with the programme that we have. The sound, the quality, is just not what we’re looking for and I think we have a choice,” she stated.