#ZMAs

The first ever Zambian Music Awards were held last week Friday in a glitzy ceremony in Lusaka.  So I’m told.  I monitored the action from my current location via Twitter.  Thanks to the stellar efforts of @luchi7 and @lalozie, I felt like I was actually at Government Complex myself soaking in what must have been a truly electric atmosphere.

The awards seemed very, very well organized.  From the pictures I’ve seen and eye-witness accounts I’ve heard, things ran more or less like clockwork on the night, a stark contrast to the usually chaotic scenes we’ve witnessed on award nights in the past.  The performances seem to have been on point, with Exile, and Danny standing out as the highlights.  From comments on social media, I gather that Ruff Kid’s performance of “Vigabenga” with label-mate Slapdee and Zone Fam was received with mixed feelings, with some showering praise on the diminutive rapper, and others deriding his over-the-top stage antics.  The glaring disappointment of the night performance-wise was Kay Figo, whose off-key delivery prompted @PetersenZagaze to tweet “Awe chachilamo, ichileya chachilamo”!

The big winner of the night undoubtedly was Slapdee with his haul of five awards (six if you include the award for his contribution on “Vigabenga”).  The result is a testament to the real growth of hip-hop in Zambia. Two rappers came out top of the nomination lists (Macky 2 with eight, and Slap with seven nods).  The night did see a couple of upsets:  alternative hip-hop duo 2wo-1ne will certainly feel hard done by as a result of not capping an awesome 2012 with some silverware on Friday.  Over on the radio presenter front, popular “Red Hot Breakfast” presenter  Hope  will have felt robbed of Best Female DJ which was won by Mimi of Q FM.   Ben Blazer triumphed in the Best Producer category, beating out Raydo of Digital-X who many listeners will agree had a lot more hit records in the past year.

Much has been said about notable absences from the list of nominees, particularly big names like JK, Afunika and B1 who have (arguably) enjoyed a lot more success in terms of airplay over the past couple of years.  Perhaps we’ll see a bit of tweaking from the organisers in the form of extra categories in next year's edition to account for artists who enjoy a lot of support on the ground but may struggle to garner sufficient nominations from the voting public.

It was great to see the entertainment galaxy coming out dressed to the nines.  Chi of Hot FM was certainly a talking point among the ladies as was entertainment demi-god Kay Smash.  Lulu Haangala, Atience and Petita Mwanza certainly caught MY attention as they usually do!  Judy, Exile and P'jay (who I insist is the ONLY person on the planet who dresses worse than me!) can certainly expect a call-out from the fashion police for their uninspiring outfits.

Finally, Zambian Breweries deserves commendation for making the event possible.  And hearty congratulations to all winners in their respective categories!  Undoubtedly, this will raise the bar for our little Zambian entertainment world, as everyone now will (hopefully) put their heads down and work very hard this year with hopes of getting a nomination next February. 

Two thumbs up!