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Simphiwe queen of SA music
16/04/2007 09:50 - (SA)
Japhet Ncube
Johannesburg - Controversy, drama and rumours that the event was rigged could spoil what turned out to be Simphiwe Dana's night to shine.
Last night's South African Music Awards saw the incredibly talented singer controversially crowned the new queen of local music as she walked away with four accolades.
Her album The One Love Movement on Bantu Biko Street won Dana the Album of the Year award. She was also crowned Best Female Artist.
The other awards for Dana were Best Contemporary Jazz Album and Best Vocal Jazz Album.
And in an evening in which Gauteng's top celebrities and businesspeople invaded the usually sleepy North West province to pay tribute to local talent, there were several notable first-time winners - and more controversy.
The awards, South Africa's own Grammys, are the highlight of the annual entertainment calendar.
Some deserving winners
They are always filled with drama, scandal and contention, especially around how the nominees are put together and also how the largely nameless, faceless panel eventually decides who wins what.
But last night there were some deserving winners, too.
One of them was Afro-soul starlet Siphokazi who, as expected, walked away with the Best Newcomer title and Best Adult Contemporary Album (African) award for her debut CD Ubuntu Bam.
Nominated in a record five categories, she could easily have won the Best Female Artist award too, had the jury told us what criteria they used to rob her of the accolade.
She was pitted against Dana, Vicky, Rae and Maduvha for the award.
Best Male Artist
Veteran jazzman Vusi Mahlasela won his most prestigious award to date when his album Naledi Ya Tsela helped him steal the Best Male Artist title, beating Bheki Khoza, Kabelo Mabalane, Musa Manzini and Paul Hanmer.
Skwatta Kamp member Flabba was the winner of the MTN and SABC1-sponsored Risa (Recording Industry of South Africa) awards ceremony when he took home the Best Rap Album award for Nkuli Vs Flabba.
He left his competition, Zubz, Tumi and Proverb, trailing in the dust, unsure how this could have been possible.
And although all the nominees later performed and stage-managed reconciliation, it was clear to all at the ceremony that Flabba had staged a major coup in rap/hip hop circles by winning the award, which many had predicted would go to either Tumi or Proverb.
Many puzzled by selection of winners
Last year's Best-Selling Album winners Shwi Nomtekhala were again rewarded this year when they took home the Best Maskandi Album award.
They could easily have won the Best Group/ Duo award, but nobody knows how Mafikizolo stole it ahead of the Durban natives, or even how Trompies, who are blowing hot with the smash hit album Can't Touch This, lost out.
How Mafikizolo also won the Best Compilation DVD ahead of nominees that included Kwaito King Arthur Mafokate, Oliver Mtukudzi, Ringo and Deborah Fraser puzzled many.
"It's as if someone says if so-and-so doesn't win, the Samas will lose their glamour," said a disgruntled musician who could not agree with several of the winners.
"How did Lucas Senyatso not get the Best Contemporary Jazz Album award, which Dana won?
"His album, All of Me, is a masterpiece. How can they rob him in broad daylight like that?"
But they couldn't fault "Bouga Luv", christened Kabelo Mabalane by his parents. He again became the pride of Soweto when the most successful former TKZee member beat stiff competition to land the Best Kwaito Album award ahead of the genre's man-of-the-moment, L'vovo Derrango.
King of the dance floors
DJ Cleo confirmed his status as the king of the dance floors when he scooped the Best Urban Dance Album award for his massive selling Eskhaleni Zone 3.
He faced stiff competition from archrival DJ Sbu, whose mega album Y-Lens Vol 1, is probably the biggest record of 2007.
How he lost the Album of the Year Award to Dana, remains a mystery.
But again this year the criteria for choosing the winners became the subject of debate among some quarters in the music industry, who questioned how Mahlasela and Dana had been voted Best Male and Best Female artists.
Tumi of Tumi and the Volume fame had been tipped by industry gurus to win the Best Rap/Hip Hop award. But the selection panel, which City Press understands consists of some journalists handpicked by the organisers, seem to live in a world of their own.
City Press yesterday managed to get the list of at least 150 "judges", who included some journalists known to do private work, including writing artists' profiles and press releases for some record companies.
There are also several unknown people on the list and at least one former journalist, who was last employed by a daily newspaper several years ago.
'These people are doing a disservice to SA music'
How she remains on the panel, despite not having written a single story in years, remains a mystery.
"It's like, since last year, youth music cleaned the house. Let's give contemporary music a chance this year," said a radio DJ, who cannot be named.
"Who actually sits on the panel? How are they picked? And what criteria are they using? Whoever they are, these people are doing SA music a disservice," said an enraged hip hop artist. - Can you please speak to the organisers and tell them this is unfair."
That's the Samas for you: controversial, dramatic, "rigged" and downright scandalous.
- City Press
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South Africa
