Zimpapers Logo

Bongani Ndlovu, Showbiz Correspondent 

The Zimbabwe Music Awards (Zima) nominees’ announcement on Wednesday evening brought about a lot of surprises and shocks that have left some people criticising event organisers, as is often the case with such announcements. 

A total of 125 nominees across 32 categories were unveiled at an event held at the Zima offices in Harare. Freeman is topping the list with six nominations closely followed by Ishan of the Kure fame with five. Gospel musician Janet Manyowa has four nominations with Gemma Griffiths being nominated in three categories. Nominated from Bulawayo are Indosakusa, Sotja Moyo, Ukukhanya Kwezwe, Ndux Jnr, Madlela Skhobokhobo, Msiz’Kay, Busi Ncube, Cal Vin and Asaph.

Some pointed out that the awards did not represent the whole of Zimbabwe as there were many talented musicians from outside Harare who were left out, yet they produced quality music last year like Ngoma Ingoma from Bulawayo. 

United Kingdom-based arts teacher, Bruce Ncube said more should be done by adjudicators as he felt the awards were more representative of Harare than Zimbabwe.

“You should maybe consider renaming your awards to Hama (Harare Music Awards) as there’s way too little and not enough representation of other regions in your awards. 

“You should also stop making artists apply to get awards, your panel of adjudicators has the whole year to look into what creatives all around the country are doing. Every professional creative is on social media nowadays and they update about their project and gigs every time, that’s a job done for you, you just need data to go online and check these people out,” posted Ncube on his Facebook page.

He also pointed out that there were some artistes who were put into wrong categories, discrediting the awards.

“And lastly, putting some musicians especially from Bulawayo on the wrong category shows how disrespectful and ignorant you are,” he added.

True to what Ncube said, Bolamba Performing Arts from Gwanda who were nominated in the Best Tshibilika category were surprised to be put in that category as they had entered their works in the Traditional (Folk/Ezomdabu) and Best Alternative categories.

“I was surprised to see that the album Pati Pati we released in September last year was nominated in a category we didn’t enter. Perhaps it was a mistake. 

“We had entered the album in the Traditional (Folk/Ezomdabu) and Best Alternative categories only to see that we’ve been nominated in the Tshibilika category. Our music certainly isn’t Tshibilika,” said Bolamba director, Mthabisi Dube.

Award-winning photographer and arts critic Mgcini Nyoni said Zima dropped the ball when it came to the nominees of the Best International Zimbabwe artiste. In this category, former Miss Zimbabwe – now turned musician Queen Vee, dancehall artiste Buffalo Souljah, Brian Nhira and Shasha of the Akulaleki fame are nominated.

“The Best International Zimbabwe artiste nominees chosen are scandalous. How on earth can one ignore the works that people like Nobuntu, Hope Masike, Insingizi and Mokoomba are doing internationally. Being South African based doesn’t mean that they are international,” said Nyoni.

According to Nyoni, some of these artistes are not up to standard to represent Zimbabwe internationally. 

“The first thing that I said when I saw their names was ‘I don’t know these people’. I then Googled their works and watched some songs on YouTube and they weren’t up to scratch when we talk international standard, except Brian Nhira,” said Nyoni.

Shockingly also for some, Winky D and Gemma Griffiths hit, Mugarden was not nominated for Best Music Video among other things. 

However, it is not all gloom as Zima can and should be commended for the Zim Icon Retro awards. Both male and female artistes from the bygone era will be awarded, something which will remind people of the music icons that contributed to the fabric of Zimbabwean society.

In the Zim Icon – Retro Female category there are people like the late Chiwoniso Maraire, Busi Ncube, Mbuya Stella Chiweshe and Susan Mapfumo. When one looks at the male category there is the late Simon Chimbetu, Lovemore Majaivana, the late Leonard Dembo and the late Tongai Moyo.

In response to the concerns that were raised by people moments after the nominees were unveiled, Zima CEO Reason Sibanda clarified some of the issues through a statement.

He said it was important for people, especially those who were quizzing why some particular songs or artistes were not on the list, to understand that: “adjudication could only be done on submitted works. The keyword being submitted. If artists or their managers, stables, PR agencies and/or their recording studios did not submit to Zima either online or physically, then they could not participate in the Zima 2020 process or be judged. 

“Zima 2020 period under consideration for eligible content is January 1st to December 31st, 2019,” explained Sibanda.

In the case of Bolamba’s wrong category placement, he acknowledged that there were errors on certain categories. 

“As a developing concern, an Online System was used for Zima 2020 as the preferred system for judging and subsequent release of nominees. However, an error(s) could have happened at the data capture stage of the submissions which might result in wrongful category/genre placement and/or name/song mismatch,” he said.

However, he said such errors were no big deal as they can be rectified.

At the end, he congratulated the nominees saying he was looking forward to the awards ceremony next Saturday at Newlands Country Club in Harare and wished the nominees all the best.