adminBruce Ndlovu
Despite delays in the announcement of nominations and date for the Zimbabwe Music Awards (Zima), the country’s premier music awards ceremony is scheduled to be held before end of year.
The 2015 awards ceremony which was initially set to be held on October 23 had to be pushed back as organisers are struggling to tie iron out logistical problems.
The Zima awards were re-launched last year following a seven-year break attributed to lack of funds.
The comeback was however riddled with problems including financial challenges. South African Idols top judge, Randall Abrahams who had been billed to grace the event was a no show, with some fans complaining about the organisation of the event. Others pointed out the skewed selection of judges, which allegedly resulted in the non-recognition of last year’s most popular artistes, including Zimdancehall trailblazer, Tocky Vibes.
At the time, Zima said artistes’ non submission of their work was the reason many fan favourites went home empty handed. The initial closing date for submissions for this year’s ceremony was February 10, which was later extended to August 14.
Zima marketing and public relations executive Farai Chapoterera said the award ceremony was indeed going ahead, with nominees set to be announced in a fortnight.
She said the date for the award fete would be announced at the nomination ceremony.
“I can confirm that this year’s Zimas are still on. I’m however not in a position to reveal the date for the ceremony as yet. We’ll reveal it when we announce the nominees,” Chapoterera said.
She hinted that the event had been delayed due to Zima’s desire to bring in foreign performers for the big night.
“The plan was always to bring international performers for this year’s ceremony. We were held up by the fact that we were still tying up contracts with international artistes and all the other logistical difficulties that come with such agreements,” she said.
Nomination ceremonies will be held in Harare and Bulawayo.
“We’ll have two nomination announcement ceremonies, with one in Bulawayo and another in Harare. Both cities have a big input in the direction of the ceremony,” she said.
The event will honour artistes in 27 categories. Media practitioners are set to be rewarded for the first time, with the media category being the only new addition in this year’s list of categories.
Last year’s winners included Jah Prayzah, Cynthia Mare, UFIC Choir, Black Umfolosi, Sulumani Chimbetu and Khuxxman among others.
Online Reporter