EATV awards could have been better

Dar es Salaam. The year is almost gone save for a few days left, and it is time to take stock.

As part of that ritual we gathered at the Mlimani City to celebrate or rather to crown the best of our artists at the inaugural East Africa TV awards.

There was definitely plenty to look forward to in a year that has been void of any such recognition especially with the continued silence at Kilimanjaro Tanzania Music Awards.

Nights like these always come with surprises and sometimes disappointments in equal proportions.

So, there we were, the setting was at the same Mlimani City Hall where such ceremonies have been held in the past.

The pricing of the tickets made sure that the audience was well sieved to suit the occasion.

This was a grand occasion that was supposed to bring East Africa’s cream of artists together.

In our midst was Information minister Nape Nauye and the Kinondoni district commissioner Ali Hapi plus other corporate big wigs.

The awards

AliKiba emerged the biggest winner of the night as the singer who recently won the MTV Europe Africa category took home the Best Male Artiste, Song of the Year and Video of the year. The treble win meant that he had taken three categories out of the available nine beating competition from both within and outside the country.

Another notable winner in the films category was Salim Ahmed Issa aka Gabo who won Best Male actor as his film Safari Ya Gwalu went on to scoop the Film of the Year gong as well.

Kisingeli sensation Manfongo was named as the Best Up and Coming artiste of the year after his success with hit single ‘Hakunaga Ushemeji’.

Lady Jaydee who made a return to music this year was recognised as the Best Female Artiste of the Year.

Veteran DJ Bony Love was named in the Hall of Fame for his contributions in Bongo Flava with a career that traces from his days at Mawingu Studios in Dar es Salaam.

The event which was hosted by former TV and radio presenter Salam Jabri also saw wins from Chu Chu Hans and Navy Kenzo who won the Best group.

Performances

Entertainment was on the cards too as artistes from Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania serenaded the audience.

There were those who impressed and some were rather very average for an audience of this caliber.

In times when playback performances have come under heavy criticism it was rather surprising that on this day organisers chose to go this route.

Artistes such as Lady Jaydee, Barnaba AliKiba Maurice Kirya who all known for their strength as live performers were all accomplices of the playback as each performed one or two songs at most.

However even with such a shortcoming, the performance of the night perhaps belonged to rapper Darassa whose hit single ‘Muziki’ drove the audience wild.

Jaydee has moved on

This was a year when Lady Jaydee made her return to music after a self imposed exile which coincided with her divorce from her radio personality husband.

But unlike when she performed at this venue to announce her return with the release of Ndi Ndi Ndi, this time around there was something worth a celebration.

First she had won an award and then she used the moment to introduce her new partner drawing wild cheers from an ecstatic audience.

Word has it that her new ‘baby’ is from Nigeria and they have already collaborated musically.

The peck on her cheek by her new partner became one of the most trending issue on picture sharing social site Instagram with a repost from the most unexpected sources.

It is all about timing sometimes and her timing to make this announcement was quite perfect.

Issues

This was supposed to be an East African affair as advertised, but that was just how far it went.

The nominations that translated into wins did not represent that diversity as organisers had hoped for. It was all Tanzanian at the end of the day. There is feeling that the amount of promotion in these countries was very minimal and thus the low turnout in form of the nominees and even the votes.

The nine categories that were shared between the musicians and the films too were hardly representative of the amount of art that is available.

For example, it is rather incomprehensible how a taarab artiste can compete with a Bongo Flava artiste; these are two different genres with different sets of fans.

Rappers and singers too had the same complain that they don’t belong to the same genre and therefore they should be graded differently. Organisers used much of the pre-award period to explain the selection process but from the look of things not many out there understood why some artistes were not nominated.

Many still questioned why other big names in the industry did not participate in the awards. According to the criteria artistes were supposed to submit entries of their works and it was off that the nominees were got. These awards were different from the one we were used to in the past but there was no way how organisers were going to escape the comparative analysis from the public.

At this level you are always going to be compared and judged, sometimes rather harshly!