Zima walks its talk on categories

20 Jul, 2014 - 06:07 0 Views
Zima walks its talk on categories Michelle Fernandez, the managing director of Cutting Edge Productions, shakes hands with Joseph Nyadzayo, chairman of Zima, at a recent ceremony held in Harare

The Sunday Mail

Michelle Fernandez, the managing director of Cutting Edge Productions, shakes hands with Joseph Nyadzayo, chairman of Zima, at a recent ceremony held in Harare

Michelle Fernandez, the managing director of Cutting Edge Productions, shakes hands with Joseph Nyadzayo, chairman of Zima, at a recent ceremony held in Harare

Since the re-launch of the Zimbabwe Music Awards in May, many musicians have been waiting to see if the organisers will fulfil their promises. Following widespread consultations with musicians and members of the music fraternity, Zima has announced the categories for the awards to be held in October in Harare.
Judging from the composition of the categories, it is apparent that the consultative workshops were not just a public relations gimmick.
The gospel category is one such category that was the spotlight and Zima has made efforts to address issues regarding this category.

At the workshops, several artistes highlighted how the genre has evolved and how traditional artistes can no longer be pitted with the new generation of artistes who have fused gospel with other genres such as R’n’B, Hip-Hop, Jazz, etc. To this end, Zima has split the gospel genre into the Traditional and Contemporary categories.

However, gospel is not the only genre that Zima has given special attention to. The list of the categories also shows that Zima has decided not to take a one-size-fits-all approach.

While sungura and other genres like Zimdancehall are big in the northern region, organisers have also acknowledged that the southern region has its own big genres that have usually been left out. Thus the addition of the Best Tshibilika and Best House categories. There were also issues raised about certain music being included in inappropriate categories. One such genre was Imbube, which has always been classified as choral music. However, it was agreed that Imbube is, in fact, a cappella and should be classified as such. Again, Zima complied by adding the a cappella category which is open to all music that is not accompanied by any instrumentation.

A look at the list of categories shows that Zima went beyond just categorisation but also took into consideration the circumstances under which the artistes are working. Speaking on the sidelines of a Press conference recently, Zima chairperson Joseph Nyadzayo said: “We have genres such as Zimdancehall that are still in their infancy. We are not giving them special treatment but we acknowledge these young men and women have been operating on sheer passion and talent with limited resources and very little technical know how. And yet they have managed to create a genre that has risen so quickly and won the hearts of fans.”

For this reason, Zima has relaxed entry requirements for entrants in this category.
Many will be looking for the “Best Urban Grooves” category but will not find it. That is not to say these artistes have been excluded, the category is now known as “Best Afro-Pop”. Explaining this, Nyadzayo said: “We want to go beyond honouring our musicians, we want them to be able to use this accolade to market themselves internationally and so it is important for us to use internationally acceptable terms where possible. The artistes have expressed this desire to be able to gain mileage from these awards beyond our borders.”

In line with their thrust to bring the awards to international standards, Zima has also announced that this year’s entries will be done electronically. Artistes can submit their entries via the Internet on their phones or computers. This is a welcome move that will help organisers, adjudicators and auditors maintain transparency and legitimacy.

The world has embraced technology and Zimbabwe is no exception. While arrangements will be made for those who do not have access to the Internet, artistes are encouraged to familiarise themselves with new technology as it will also help them to promote themselves. Speaking at the announcement of the categories and rules and regulations, Michelle Fernandez, the managing director of Cutting Edge Productions, South Africa, who are helping Zima co-ordinate the awards, said: “The success of this stage is hugely dependent on the support and reliability of our mobile networks and Internet service providers. We need them to come on board and make the entry process simple for our artistes.”

The full list of categories is as follows:
The Top 5:
Best Female Artiste of the year
Best Male Artiste of the year
Best Duo/Group of the year
Best Newcomer of the year
Best Album/EP of the Year
Genre Categories
Best Traditional Music
Best Choral Music
Best A Cappella
Best Sungura Music
Best Tshibilika Music
Best Hip Hop Music
Best House Music
Best RnB/Soul Music
Best Afro-Pop Music
Best Dancehall Music
Best Jazz Music
Best Traditional Gospel Music
Best Contemporary Gospel Music
Best Alternative Music
Best Collaboration
Best Single
Special Awards
Song of the Year
International Achievement
Lifetime Achievement/Cheukashure
Chairman’s Award
Technical category
Best Music Video of the Year
Best Producer of the Year
Best Engineer of the Year

Artistes can download the rules documents on www.zimawards.co.zw

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