adminSimbarashe Mutizwa Showbiz Reporter
MUSICIANS have hailed the return of the Zimbabwe Music Awards (Zima) which had vanished for seven years and believe these create a chance for them to be acknowledged for the work they do.
The awards, last held in 2007, were re-launched in Harare last month by Zima chairperson and founder Joseph Nyadzayo.
Zima has its origins in 2003 as an annual awards ceremony to acknowledge and honour musical excellence and creativity.
Bulawayo musician and dance queen Sandra Ndebele said the return of the awards was welcome as music was going to be fully recognised.
“It is a good thing that the Zima awards are coming back. For a very long time we had anticipated the music awards without the arts element and also different from Nama”, she said.
Urban grooves guru and hip hop artiste Alishias “Maskiri” Musimbe said it was good that the Zimas were back as they were going to provide up-and-coming artistes with an opportunity to be recognised.
“The return of Zimas is exciting for me as I believe that unknown musicians are going to get the limelight and opportunity to be recognised”, he said.
Veteran dancehall musician Sniper Storm said: “I think an extra platform has always been wanted in the music industry as musicians are going to be vetted and awarded for the good work they have done.”
Hip Hop artiste Desmond Chideme a.k.a Stunner also expressed excitement with the return of the awards.
“The return of the Zimas is welcome. Musicians should be honoured for the hard work they put in their work and not for who they are”, he said.
Afro Jazz songstress Cynthia Mare expressed excitement at the return of the awards saying it was high time the country had an awards event targeting music only.
“It was high time we had an awards event that covers music so that musicians are recognised at home to show the international stage that Zimbabwe has talented musicians and also as a marketing platform”, she said.
Meanwhile, Zima is set to host consultative workshops countrywide to offer artistes an opportunity to come up with an event they can look forward to.
The workshops, which are scheduled for Harare and Bulawayo, are a podium where journalists and artistes are expected to learn about the adjudication process in awards ceremonies.
Zima production assistant Kganya Ndlovu said the workshops were intended to clear the air on adjudicative and selection procedures surrounding the awards.
Zima has engaged the Recording Industry of South Africa (RISA) in this year’s makeup of the awards where the South African based establishment will give guidance and share what it has done with such events in their country.
RISA is behind the glamorous South Africa Music Awards held annually in Sun City.
RISA’s Mitchell Fernandez is set to be the key note speaker in these workshops where she is going to share with her Zimbabwean counterparts how her organisation has been holding events in South Africa.
“We are going to be having RISA’s Mitchell Fernandez as the key note speaker. She will share how they have been hosting their events in South Africa so as to improve our quality of awards at Zima”, said Ndlovu.
Online Reporter