Byo awards to honour cover ‘experts’
THE Roil Bulawayo Arts Awards (RBAAs) are set to honour some of the city’s bands that have made live music fashionable again, with a category dedicated to bands that have made their name by giving a new lease of life to golden oldies.
The awards are slated for 5 November. Bands in Bulawayo have over the last few years redefined the art of a good cover song, giving fresh voice to classics that some audiences only hear once in a while on radio.
In the process, live bands have become a mainstay on the city’s entertainment scene, with most bars and nightspots reserving making them resident acts on particular days.
Announcing changes and additions to the RBAAs, one of the organisers Nkululeko Nkala said that the Outstanding Best Award had been added to the ceremony, after the realisation of the contribution to the local arts scene by cover bands, especially during the Covid-19 era.
“This category came about after organisers noted the role that had been played by cover bands, especially during the peak of Covid19 inspired lockdowns. From weddings to corporate events, bands have become a regular feature of the region’s entertainment landscape, garnering a huge following in the Matabeleland region and beyond. We hope the introduction of this award will help trigger conversation about the boundless potential local acts have to win over audiences,” Nkala said.
Besides an honour for cover bands, Nkala said that organisers had decided to also a category for screenplay writers, while also splitting the visual arts section into two.
“As was hinted in our last communication on this year’s edition of the Roil Bulawayo Arts Awards (RBAAs), there will be a slight change to some categories, with some additions and alterations. This was a decision made in a bid to make the RBAAs all-inclusive, while aiding the continued growth of the awards, which are now in their sixth year.
“In addition, since these RBAAs do not operate in a vacuum, there was a need for the organisers to engage one of the key stakeholders, the artistes, on how best the awards can be improved going forward. For this year’s RBAAs, new categories have been added. There are the Outstanding Screenplay and Outstanding Band (Covers) categories, while the visual arts category has been split into two; Outstanding Visual Artist (2D) and Outstanding Visual Artist (3D),” he said.
Nkala said that the category for screenplay writers was added in recognition of the stellar work by some of Bulawayo’s writers in this category, while the splitting of the visual art section came after consultation with artistes.
“The Outstanding screenplay award seeks to honour those artistes behind the scenes who pen some of the popular productions but rarely get recognition for their craft. This year the region has witnessed a number of screenplays and there is a need to encourage these writers to keep churning out internationally recognised and acclaimed content.
Although last year we did not have any submissions for the Outstanding Visual Artiste award, through our engagement with artistes, they raised the point that for the award to carry weight, there is a need for the category to be more specific and thus split into these two genres. It is our hope that this year around, with the added specification, we get nominees for these two categories,” he said.