The Sunday Mail
AWARDS ceremonies are supposed to be exciting and enjoyable, but many local events have come under fire for being bland.
From the adjudication process to the actual staging of the show, the standards have not been satisfactory despite organisers promising year in, year out to put up an exceptional event.
The Zimbabwe Hip-Hop Awards have been hit hardest by critics, with controversy dogging the event every year.
But there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel.
Having partnered Platinum Entertainment, the new administration under the guidance of Sean Campbell has pledged to revamp the awards ceremony in every aspect with the major emphasis being transparency.
As a way of harvesting ideas from various spheres of the industry, the organisers held a stakeholders meeting a fortnight ago, which was massively attended.
This platform saw individuals from various backgrounds and professions sharing ideas on how best to improve the awards ceremony.
In an interview with The Sunday Mail Leisure, Boss Sean said they were open to suggestions from artists and fans.
“We arranged a stakeholders meeting so that people could air their views about previous awards as well as highlighting areas that needed improvement. People raised a lot of points, which we took into consideration and we are going to use these suggestions to make this year’s event much better,” said Boss Sean.
“This year we want these awards to be as transparent as possible, because I believe people have the right to know the criteria being used to nominate the artistes as well as how the judges come up with the winners.
“We want to eliminate the issue of guesswork, favouritism, bribery and whatever else that might leave people complaining about the winners.”
The organisers have enlisted the help of industry veterans to put up a good show.
“We have people we are going to be working with who are experienced and have knowledge about the local music industry. Among them are the likes of Professor Fred Zindi, Mathias Bangure, Mau Mau and Munetsi, to name a few. These guys have been around for a while and are knowledgeable in terms of how the industry works.”
The 2015 awards show will be held at Long Cheng Plaza’s 1+1 Happy, one of the most happening clubs on the circuit.
“We want this event to have all the glitz and glamour and we realised that 1+1 Happy would be a brilliant venue as it has an incredible lighting setup and the architectural aspect exude elegance.”
Launched five years ago, the awards have deteriorated with each passing year and many people had lost faith in them.
Platinum Entertainment boss Spencer Madziya said they wanted to make a real difference this year.
“Looking back you will notice that there has been too much controversy surrounding the hip-hop awards and several things contributed to this but we are going to sort these out in the build-up to the event.
“The reason why there was disorganisation is because there were no proper structures and we are actually doing consultations so that we set up a board,” said Madziya.
The new captains of the hip-hop awards ship are taking no chances and they have set their eyes across the Limpopo to borrow a few ideas on how awards ceremonies are organised in that country.
“We are working with some people from South Africa who are going to be helping us out with the technical aspect of the event. At the moment I am not at liberty to tell you who in particular we are working with but what I can simply say is that these people are responsible for organising some of the biggest awards ceremonies in South Africa.”
He said they were planning to decentralise the awards so that every province in the country is represented.
“At the moment we are centralised and everything has to be done in Harare but next year we are going to establish offices in other parts of the country. I believe we have a lot of talent out there, which is why all provinces, cities and towns should be well represented.”
The future looks bright with several corporates already jumping in to partner the event.
“At the stakeholders meeting, many people including Stunner said they had considered giving up on the awards but at the moment the mood is positive and people are looking forward to something different.
“Many people have enough faith in us and some corporates have already confirmed that they are going to be partnering us this year,” said Madziya.
The hip-hop awards were established in 2011 by Aldrin Harrison and Alexander Mutumha in a bid to promote the local hip-hop industry. Held every second week of December, the awards have been marred by numerous controversies ranging from accusations of dubious judging to pure disorganisation during the ceremony itself.
