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Auxilia Katongomara Entertainment Reporter
THE National Arts Council of Zimbabwe (NACZ) has cleared the air over the awarding of gospel musician, Olivia Charamba, the most outstanding female artiste at the recently held National Arts Merit Awards. Charamba beat Selmor Mtukudzi who was widely tipped to win the award as well as Edith Katiji WeuTonga.
That raised eyebrows from a cross section of Zimbabweans who expressed disgruntlement over Charamba’s win as she released her album, Gospel in 2009.
However, National Arts Council assistant director, arts promotions and development, Audrey Charamba clarified several factors that adjudicators look at when selecting an outstanding artiste.
“When the adjudicators look at outstanding female and male artiste, they are looking at physical performance, public appearances, interaction with the fans, visibility and to what extent they managed to wow fans.
They won’t be looking at whether the person released an album or song that particular year,” said Charamba.
She explained the difference in the criteria in selecting an outstanding artiste and outstanding song.
“For an outstanding song or album, the adjudicators will be looking at the product itself, quality of a song as well as construction and that is different from the outstanding artiste as they will be concentrating on the artiste’s visibility and impact throughout that particular year,” she said.
Selmor Mtukudzi caused ripples on the airwaves last year with the track Space Yeyi (Nguva Yangu) signalling her intentions to stay on the local showbiz.
Edith Katiji WeuTonga also had a fair share of the limelight with her track Mukaranga and Mai Charamba’s win came as a great shock to many who thought she did not deserve the award as it had been long since she had dropped an album on the market.
Online Reporter