Chronicle Editor
Mthabisi Tshuma, Showbiz Correspondent
THE much-awaited National Arts Merit Awards (Nama) Legends@40 awards are on tonight.
The inaugural awards which will be hosted by Ammara Brown seek to honour and recognise living legendary creatives who have raised the country’s flag high over the past 40 years. They will be held virtually under the theme “Our Legacy, Our Pride”.
With an array of performances from local and diaspora-based artistes, organisers have advised locals to tune in as it is going to be a memorable event.
Award ceremonies that have been held virtually over the past year have been marred by technical glitches but Nama executive director, Napoleon “Napster” Nyanhi says they have done all they can to guard against possible glitches.
During the first 30 minutes of the show to be aired live on ZBCtv, ZTN, NACZ, Nama and Zimcelebs Facebook pages as well as the Nama TV YouTube page from 9PM, a unique track that features diverse artistes will be launched. The song features seven musicians — Vusa Mkhaya, Bekezela, Cindy Munyavi, Vimbai Zimuto, Brian Nhira, Tina Masawi and Sani Makhalima.
More performances will be from legendary Busi Ncube, Mzoe 7, Tammy Moyo, Sylent Nqo, ExQ, Anita Jackson, Nutty O, Tariro NeGitare, Jose Sax and Fadza Mutengi hit-maker Poptain.
Napster said people should be glued to their devices as they have lined up the best artistes for the night.
“We’ve brilliant talent as a nation and at the Nama Legends awards, we’ll celebrate some of our best musical exports. We really cast our net far and wide (for the collaboration) and those that answered the call are the ones you’ll see.
“We also tried to ensure we had all continents represented, but however, we couldn’t have representatives from South America and Asia on time,” he said.
Napster said the collaborative track is meant bring Zimbabweans together. He said after the performance tonight, the track will be uploaded on YouTube. — @mthabisi_mthir
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