The Sunday Mail
South African hip-hop superstars AKA (left) and Casper Nyovest are set to headline this week’s MTV Africa Music Awards
BEHOLD, the real war for the remote control is here.
In approximately 28 days, the English Premier League (EPL) will be upon us and this means all things television will automatically fall under the male domain.
No more Stokvels, Isidingo, Telemundos or cartoons during the weekends or every other week night. For the unlucky few, those with real sport enthusiasts for husbands and dads, the sun has already set; what with the just ended Wimbledon Championships, the Ashes series and the Copa America soccer tournament. And these are only the current or just ended tourneys, but it gets worse with the football season in a few weeks and IRB Rugby World Cup on the horizon.
While it may sound all gloom and doom, the glass is only half full ladies and as such why not indulge yourselves for the next 28 days. Go out with a bang and not a cling, I always say!
It appears Zambezi Magic, channel 160, has become the station of choice for Africa.
This week, the usual programming continues and dare I say it ladies; enjoy every 30 minute or hour-long programming on offer with a renewed vigour, who knows the next time you are going to enjoy such freedoms. That said, when you next catch up with Siba, or whoever she has cooked up (pun intended) in the kitchen, treasure that recipe or guest. Cooking with Siba is on every Monday at 6pm.
Literally laugh out loud when watching whatever sitcom catches your fancy, whether it is the ever humorous Stokvel, Samsokolo or Africa’s version of Friends, City Ses’la.
However, if you are going to go out then I implore you to do so with a bang like Breaking Bad! This week tune into MTV Africa Music Awards slated for the Durban International Convention Centre, Kwazulu Natal.
The awards show, argued to be one of Africa’s biggest attractions, will be beamed live on MTV Base (DStv channel 322), MTV (DStv channel 130) and BET (DStv channel 129) this Saturday at 9pm.
While the biggest story coming out of the awards show itself, from a Zimbabwean perspective, is the lack of any local flavour whatsoever I still implore our local viewers to tune in. And this goes out, in particular, to our local acts and the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe (NACZ) itself.
This year’s edition has been earmarked for the luscious Durban Convention Center and will see a host of Africa’s heavyweights on the music scene converge and honour those that stood out in their craft.
As far as relevance is concerned Nigeria and South Africa will again go toe to toe for continental supremacy.
Representing our Southern neighbours will be acts like Casper Nyovest, AKA, Big Nuz and Buscie while Flavour, WizKid, P-Square and Davido will represent Nigeria.
Comedians Trevor Noah and Basket mouth will square up for the coveted Personality of the Year award, while the likes of AKA, Davido and Wizkid compete for the Best male act.
Billed to perform are international acts like American r & b artiste Neyo, rising sensation Jhene Aiko, Nyovest, AKA and 2Face.
Back home, the National Arts and Merit Awards (Nama) organisers should also take a cue from the event. I guess it will help them improve the way they run the annual event.
As I wrote this piece, I could not help but shade a tear as I often found myself comparing anticipation for the MTV Africa awards and my utter disappointment with the shoddy way the Nama’s are sometimes done.
For starters the Nama’s are just an ordinary awards show with little or no glitz or glamour to talk about. Thus, let’s use this year’s event, held back in February, as a case study.
Was there any glitz or glamour to talk about the 7 Arts?
Firstly, despite this and previous events being marked as a “black tie” affair, the dress code was all over the place and it really didn’t make sense to even have a red carpet.
Organisers really need to step up their audiences’ adherence to the code and refuse entry or alienate those dressed in skimpy wear, T-shirts or casual attire.
Also rope in local designers to rent out their tuxedos, suits and dresses as it helps market their craft and brings a little prestige to the proceedings.
If possible turn away those not appropriately dressed. Rehearsal! I cannot stress on this point enough. This year’s hosts Patience Musa and Leroy Gopal were dull, lacking in chemistry or cohesion and I still don’t know how they got the gig anyway.
While I know it’s a bit ambitious for me to talk about Teleprompters for award shows here, cue cards can also come in handy. Put some thought into your choice in hosts, have them come in weeks prior to learn their lines and work on their chemistry. If that turns out to be too hard then one host, instead of two, works even better. But no Tich Mataz, I have nothing against him but the same face every time, all the time. No!
Most importantly, the acts should put some creative thought into their acts, practice and perfect them before they go on stage.
The bigger the stage, the better the performance; instead of the circus that was 7 Arts Theater this year and Rainbow Hotel the year before.
