ORGANISERS of the annual ZimDancehall Awards have added four categories from last year’s edition to make it 22 for the forthcoming event to be held on March 6 at the East End Hall, Showgrounds, Harare.
Winstone Antonio Own Correspondent
Speaking at a Press conference in the capital yesterday, founder of the awards Phinias Mushayi said they were leaving no stone unturned to make the event a success.
“Talks with different potential sponsors are already underway and we are promising a bigger and better event as compared to the first edition,” Mushayi said.
“We decided to host the inaugural Zim-Dancehall Awards in March last year in recognition of the acceptance of the genre as a force to reckon with on the local showbiz scene.”
Mushayi said they had decided to increase the categories as they felt the need to award more people as the industry stretches beyond artistes.
“A number of dancehall artistes are proving that they can make a living from their music talent hence they need to be appreciated for spreading social messages to their peers from across classes and backgrounds,” Mushayi said.
“To ensure credibility in the selection process, we will include the views of club and radio DJs, producers, arts reporters as well as fans and members of the general public on their choices to be taken into consideration in coming up with the final nominees.”
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Categories and their Justifications
1.Best Artist 2014 male This award will be given to the most consistent and outstanding male artist for 2014. The selection will be based on the quality of music in terms of lyrical prowess, stage performances and popularity of the music released by the particular artiste throughout the year. The artiste’s performance on chat shows will also be used to determine the best artiste in this category. 2. Best Artist 2014 female This award will be given to the most consistent and outstanding female artiste for 2014. The selection will be based on the quality of music in terms of lyrical prowess, stage performances and popularity of the music released by the particular artiste throughout the year. The artiste’s performance on the chat shows will also be used to determine the best artist in this category.
3. Best Collaboration Song This award will be given to the best collaborated song for 2014. The selection will be based on the quality and popularity of the song released by the particular artistes throughout the year in question.
4. Best Vocalist This award seeks to honour a male or female artiste who has put a great effort in bringing out their music in a well arranged melody, versatility and good voice manipulation. This award seeks to encourage artistes to put an effort in improving their vocal abilities.
5. Song of the year This award will be given to the most popular song of the year.
6. Best Social message This award will mainly focus on song that sent the most socially responsible message to Zim Dancehall fans. The award seeks to encourage the artistes to sing songs that have positive social messages since they are role models to mostly the youth. We believe this to be an important award as music has the power to change lives of people and not just entertain them.
7. Best stage performer Stage performance as an art shows the creativity of the artiste and how they communicate with the audience, DJ/selector and the artistic use of live band. This forms the backbone of the livelihood of the artistes as that is where most of their earnings come from. This award will seek to honour the best stage performer.
8. Best Zim dancehall Youngster This award will be given to the most consistent and outstanding male or female youngster artiste for 2014. The age group for this category is any artiste at the age of 16 and below. The selection will be based on the quality of music in terms of lyrical prose, stage performances and popularity of the music released by the particular artiste throughout the year.
9. Most promising artiste This award will be given to the most outstanding female or male artiste has shown great potential. The selection will be based on the quality of music in terms of lyrical prowess and stage performances by music experts judging on the artiste’s production throughout the year.
10. Best 2014 video This award seeks to encourage artistes to produce quality videos as these are integral to the growth of their career. The award will be given to a video with consideration given to the quality of content, originality and directing as well as how the words sync with images. 11. Best 2014 medley video Video medleys are unique to Zim dancehall and form an integral part of the genre as they allow several artists to feature on one video. This award seeks to encourage artistes to produce quality videos as these are integral to the growth of their career. The award will be given to a video with consideration given to the quality of content, originality and directing as well as how the words sync with images. 12. Best Album The award seeks to reward an artiste who produced the most popular album. The selection will be based on the quality and popularity of the music released on the album. 13. Best artiste manager This award will be given to the best artiste manager. The purpose of the award is to honour the strength behind the artistes which are the managers. We intend to bring a level of professionalism for the artistes by encouraging them to engage the services of professional managers to take care of the business side of music.
14. Best Dance Hall Dance Group Dance groups form an integral part of the Zim dancehall industry. Dancing to Zim dancehall has grown as a past time for many youths and most of them are fast turning professional. We seek to honour their efforts and provide them a platform to grow their careers. Popularity, choreography, creativity and consistency will be used to measure the best dance group of 2014.
15. Best Conscious song This award will be given to the most popular song on a conscious riddim.
16. Best mix tape The award seeks to reward a DJ who produced the most popular mixtape. Zim dancehall is a very diverse industry with so many players that deserve recognition as they support the genre in various ways. The selection will be based on the quality and popularity of the mixtape produced.
17. Best Club DJ This award will be given to the most consistent and outstanding Club DJ for 2014. The selection will be mainly based on the popularity of the DJ and his/her ability to select relevant songs at different occasions and creativity during playing sessions.
18. Riddim of the year This award is for the best riddim of the year based on its quality and its popularity. The award will be awarded to the recording studio for the riddim in question.
19. Best conscious riddim This award is for the best conscious riddim of the year based on its quality and its popularity. The award will be awarded to the recording studio for the conscious riddim in question.
20. Best Collaboration riddim The year 2014 saw an unprecedented rise in collaborations between different studios. This has worked in bringing unity to the genre. This award will be given to the best collaborated riddim for 2014. The selection will be based on the quality and popularity of the riddim co-produced by the producers.
21. Zim Dancehall ambassador This award will be given to Zimbabwe-based artistes or DJs who represented Zim dancehall beyond our borders.
22. Zim Dancehall Diaspora This award seeks to recognize the efforts of Zimbabweans in the diaspora who are pushing the Zim dancehall genre. In this category we will consider artists, DJs, Producers and promoters who has carried the Zim dancehall brand beyond the Zimbabwean national boundaries. 23. Best-dressed Artist This award seeks to recognize the artists who possess the best sense of fashion during live. Ends
