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Brenda Phiri Entertainment Reporter
The curtain came down on the MTV Africa Music Awards 2015 that were held in South Africa over the weekend, and as usual South African and Nigerian artistes emerged the overall winners.
In a continent that has 54 countries, it has become the norm that these two dominate regional awards.
At the fifth edition of the MAMAs, the 17 categories had only four awards that did not go to either South Africa or Nigeria, the countries that boast the biggest economies on the continent. They also coincidentally have large populations thereby providing the biggest markets on the continent.
Of the four wards, one was a “Best International Award” that went to Nicky Minaj, the other two were for “Best Francophone” (for former French colonies) and “Best Lusophone” (for former Portuguese colonies) that Nigeria and South Africa did not qualify to compete in.
Diamond Platnumz of Tanzania becomes the only heavyweight from outside the Big Two who won in the Best Live category against Big Nuz (South Africa), Flavour (Nigeria), Mi Casa (South Africa) and Toofan (Togo).
Also for the record, the MAMAs nominees for this year and every other year were predominantly South African and Nigerian
Acknowledging Nigeria’s stranglehold on the music industry in Africa, Kenya’s Sauti Sol wrote this on social media:
“We are not sad that P Square won. We are super humbled and honoured to be in same categor,y, E no easy oooh, #MTVMAMA2015 #BestGroup. (sic)”
The question then is: Are South African and Nigerian artistes really better than the rest of Africa?
After all, they are the main feature at every other regional awards ceremony and regional music channels on the continent’s largest satellite tele- vision.
For what it is worth, 2face (Nigeria), AKA (South Africa), Black Motion (South Africa), Wizkid (Nigeria), Cassper Nyovest (South Africa) and Toofan (Togo) were in the spotlight, proving millions of viewers with entertainment during the MAMA 2015.
Is the ground really level for all artistes on the continent to battle for supremacy?
One does not need to be a rocket scientist to notice an imbalance on regional platforms like Channel O, Trace Africa, and recently established Zambezi Magic being criticised for being an extension of South Africa’s Mzansi Magic.
These channels are a powerful marketing platform for artistes and it does not help matters when such platforms are only competitive to a handful.
This is also a contributing factor to the current state of affairs in Africa where the girlfriend of a hip-hop star in South Africa is more popular than the best-selling musician in Madagascar.
Sidelining artistes simply because their video qualities are not good enough is utterly absurd. Big names like P Square grew their brands with continental music channels awards for videos of decidedly poor quality.
They have come a long way from the substandard “Bizzy Body” to the superlative “Personally” and “Beautiful Onyinye” for which they are now known.
P Square, among other mostly Nigerian and South African countries, used such platforms to improve their brands and now they are competitive on the international market. So why not continue to grow talent on the continent in the same manner?
On the other hand, credit should be given where it is due, Nigeria and South Africa do put thought into their art. Their corporates do an even bigger job in supporting them.
But to really prove that they best out of the rest, why not level the playground the give all African countries a fair chance to compete?
Why not select the true cream from all parts of Africa – East, West, North and South to lock horns?
Why not create mechanisms to ensure the winners are not merely the most popular artistes?
Online Reporter