The Sunday Mail
Andrew Moyo
LAST weekend, the National Arts Merit Awards (Nama) took place at the 7 Arts Theatre in Avondale, which has become the awards ceremony’s traditional venue.
With the accolades safely tucked away in the winners’ trophy cabinets and the noise concerning the controversy surrounding the event already dead, it would not come as a surprise if the event has been forgotten by now.
We see no harm, however, in resurrecting it a little, for a word or two.
While Nama is supposed to be the top awards ceremony in the country, organisers have dismally failed to raise the bar in terms of producing a memorable event that can compete with similar fetes in the region. There have been minor improvements in certain areas but the event remains too ordinary, something a well-organised school prize giving ceremony can pull off.
It seems organisers have accepted mediocrity as normal and there is no wow factor as seen at other events of similar stature.
While it would not be fair to compare Nama to other similar events from around the globe considering the economic differences, there are several other local events that can easily put Nama to shame.
Aside from the fact that the announcement of winners and handover of the awards went on smoothly without any glitches, what a relief, there are many other areas where Nama could have done better.
The production of the event was just too ordinary and predictable without any surprising twists and turns.
It was just a matter of announcing the nominees and dishing out awards with minimal entertainment during interludes and as the night went on, this process became monotonous.
An awards night is supposed to be a celebratory event, which means that besides the awards presentations, people who attend also expect to be bombarded with thrilling entertainment.
It terms of entertaining the crowd, Nama really went to sleep on that one with only one major act in the form of Jah Prayzah, who did not even try to impress.
However, being a ceremony celebrating various art forms, they did well in trying to be representative of various talents as their line-up accommodated dance, music and even beat boxing.
But as has become the norm world over, when people watch awards ceremonies, they expect to see artistes that are trending performing their hit songs live on stage; this was not the case.
The irony is that they even had awards for artistes who had the best song or best album among the other musical awards, a pool of artistes that could have easily turned the night into something explosive.
Their host, Carl Joshua Ncube, who was also trying to throw in a couple of jokes during the breathers, failed to really stamp his authority as his recycled jokes started losing flavor as the night wore on.
Their stage might have managed to deceive people by the few installations, good lighting and giant screens but for such a big platform, they could have done more.
People who attended or watched Miss Tourism Zimbabwe and the Dreamstar finale last year, events that were held at the HICC, would testify that the stage work at these events was astounding.
Even to date, when people talk about events that have been held in the country, these two events easily pop up in the conversations because they managed to set a yardstick with their stage work.
Seating arrangements were also catastrophic, with organisers failing to reserve front seats for nominees and other personalities who were supposed to go on stage.
This meant that other winners had to walk all the way from the back of the auditorium to go and collect their accolades on stage.
However, there were other elements of the event that Nama can actually brag about. Their red carpet set-up was impressive, something that other events should actually try and copy in the future.
There was sort of a Hollywood atmosphere, thanks to the numerous TV and radio channels that were doing interviews along the carpet, with the well-dressed celebrities and other individuals posing for photographs on the various banners that were adding colour to the set-up.
Sadly, besides the red carpet aspect, there is nothing extraordinary that the ceremony can be remembered for.
Considering that this is an event that has been around for over a decade and a half, Nama should be able to compete with some of the most prestigious ceremonies not only in the region but on the continent.
