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Goodchild

Showbiz Reporters
THE inaugural Midlands Music Awards (MMA) held on Saturday evening definitely belonged to urban contemporary music artiste, Goodchild (real name Alexio Gwenzi) as he scooped three awards.Music lovers and artistes thronged the Midlands hotel in Gweru to witness the first ever Midlands music awards which were hosted by ZiFM hosts, Tony Friday and the ever bubbly “Vee”.

The Zimbabwean version of America’s BET awards saw Kwekwe’s Goodchild bagging three accolades in the Best male R’n’B category for the song Arikundinyepera, Best collaboration and Best music video categories for Tisanyadzise. On Tisanyadzise Goodchild collaborated with up-and-coming Kwekwe hip hop artiste, L Kat.

Speaking after the awards, Goodchild, who has never won an award at nationally recognised events, said he was humbled to have been recognised for his hard work.

“These awards gave me the push to continue with my work. At times you work so hard and feel people do not appreciate your music, but this has certainly shown me that I am appreciated,” he said.

Goodchild praised the organisers of the awards saying they had inspired up-and-coming artistes.

“This is the biggest music award ceremony in the Midlands and I’m sure the awards ceremony will go a long way in inspiring up-and-coming artistes to work hard so that they can also be recognised at next year’s event”.

The gold mining town of Kwekwe literally stole the show as they bagged the largest number of accolades – thanks to the talents of sungura ace Peter Moyo who went home with awards for Best Live Recording album and Best Sungura artiste after shrugging off competitors Gift Amuli and Ronnie Mudhidho.

These were Moyo’s first awards ever since he joined the music industry. An excited Moyo told Chronicle Showbiz that scooping the awards was a special moment for him.

“I unfortunately could not attend the awards as I had other commitments, but I am really humbled to have been awarded. This has given me the strength to work hard,” said the Young Igwe.

Other artistes from Kwekwe who proved they were forces to reckon with in the music industry are songbird Sharon Manyika who scooped the Best gospel artiste award while DJ Stavo scooped the Best Club DJ award.

Gweru’s Shingisai Mangoma walked away with the Outstanding jazz/afro pop artiste award.

Power FM also made its mark in the inaugural event as DJ Chile was crowned the Queen of Radio and awarded the Best Radio DJ.

Gweru’s Legion of the Ma feelings paKadoma fame won the award for Best Dancehall Artiste.

After the show, events co-ordinator Mavis Koslek, who also won the award for Best Promoter, described the show as a resounding success.

“I feel we delivered, particularly considering that this was a debut event. It exceeded expectations as it was classy and elegant without any violence or disorder.

“We are also grateful for the turnout from both the artistes and the fans,” she said.

Revellers were kept on the dance floor with quality entertainment provided by dancehall artiste Lewis Skattah.

And the winners are:

Best Jazz Afro Pop: Jazzi Jazz
Best Up-and-coming Artiste: Slykiezle
Best R’n’B Female Artiste: Marcy Jay
Best Reggae Artiste: Bantuman
Best Sungura Artiste: Peter Moyo
Best Digital Album: Good Life – LKat
Best Club DJ: DJ Starvo
Best Female Gospel Artiste: Sharon Manyika
Best Male Gospel Artiste: Trymon Mutidza
Best Radio DJ: DJ Chile (Power Fm)
Best House Artiste: Mr Khoax
Best Male R’n’B Artiste: Goodchild
Best Female Jazz Afro Artiste: Shingi Mangoma
Best Collaboration: LKat & Goodchild (Tisanyadzise)
Best Producer: Oskid
Best Music Video: Goodchild (Arikundinyepera)
Best Hip Hop artiste: LKat
Best Live Recording Album: Peter Moyo
Best Promoter: Mavis Koslek
Best Dancehall Artiste: Legion