Local lass scores big at SAMA
Great artists bag awards, writes Helen Herimbi
SHEKHINAH took home three statuettes at the 24th annual South African Music Awards last night.
The Durban-born singersongwriter went into the glitzy affair with the most nominations at this year’s awards with six under her belt for her debut album, Rose Gold. But it was the contemporary gospel group, the Joyous Celebrations, who were the biggest winners of the night, scooping a total of four awards – all of which were the direct result of sales.
Joyous Celebration won the CAPASSO Best Selling Digital Download Composer’s Award, Best Selling DVD of the Year, Best Selling Digital Artist of the Year and the Best Selling Album of the Year for Joyous Celebration Volume 21: Heal Our Land.
While some acts were voted for by the public based on popularity – in cases such as the Record of The Year – and the SAMA judges cast their votes for the rest of the categories, the sales awards mean that the fans put their money where their mouths are.
Over the weekend, the non-televised SAMA ceremony took place on Friday while the glittering televised ceremony took place last night. Both were held at the Superbowl, Sun City.
Last night saw seasoned presenter, Somizi, take the reins as the main presenter for the awards. He shared the stage with Metro FM DJ and reality TV star, Dineo Ranaka, as well as comedian, Mpho Popps.
Performances over the weekend came from Ntando, Nadia Nakai, Zoe Modiga, Thabsie, Shane Eagle and more. Most enthralling was watching people on their toes as to whether they would win certain awards or not.
Shekhinah was thrilled have won a few.
The former Queensburgh Girls High musician won Newcomer of the Year, Female Artist of the Year and Album of The Year awards.
Last week she said: “The one that trumps everything on that list is Best Album. Literally. For me, it’s not about being the best female or best pop. It’s about having the best album across all genres, period. It’s more affirming to me.”
And so she affirmed herself with her Album of The Year gong.
Shekhinah was not the only artist who walked away beaming. Another breakthrough artist, Sun-el Musician and his collaborator Samthing Soweto, walked home with three awards for their smash hit single Akanamali. to
The song was an omnipresent last year, which explains why Sun-el Musician and Samthing Soweto walked away with the SAMRO Highest Airplay Composer’s Award, SAMPRA Highest Airplay Song of the Year and the Best Collaboration gongs.
What will be interesting to watch about producer Sun-el is whether his album, Africa to the World, will live up to the insane adoration Akanamali garnered him.
The album was recently released and will be eligible for next year’s SAMA nominations, so we’ll see if he can match or beat the success of his debut single.
Another act that walked away with three SAMAS is the legendary Mafikizolo. The seasoned duo dropped an album called 20 to celebrate two decades in the music industry. Unsurprisingly, Nhlanhla Nciza and Theo Kgosinkwe, who make up Mafikizolo, won the Best Afropop Album award. They are the posterchildren for Afropop and besides that they delivered a brilliant album that is Afro in the true sense of the word.
They also took home the Duo or Group of the Year and the Best Engineered Album awards. This is cool because not only did music industry experts believe the music was deserving, but the technical aspects of it were also to be rewarded.
As with every awards ceremony, there will be artists that win categories and leave the audience perplexed. One such is the Best African Artist Album. The award went to The Simphiwe Dana Symphony Experience by Simphiwe Dana. This was surprising because of two things. Firstly, this category is designed to shed light on music from the rest of the continent. Secondly, if we look at factors like popularity, airplay, sales and gigging, there are other artists in that category that seem to be more popular and are played in this country way more than Dana.
After all, she was up against Niniola for This Is Me, Zoe Modiga for Yellow The Novel, Moreira Chonguica and Manu Dibango for M&M and Wizkid for Sounds from the Other Side. This is not to say Dana doesn’t deserve it, it’s just that I thought music from the rest of the continent would be highlighted in this category.
The 24th SAMAS were a much-better produced affair than in recent years.