Mosi Lager Zambian Music Awards launched

The Zambian awards season has kicked into gear with the official launch of the Mosi Lager Zambian Music Awards at a colourful event held at Rhapsody’s in Lusaka on Tuesday.

The awards ceremony will be held in Lusaka on April 28 and aligned with a music spectacular in Livingstone on April 30.

The ceremony, which has grown to be the highlight of the music industry calendar in the last four years, will bring together the nation’s best performers, producers and artistes for a celebration of all genres from kalindula to hip-hop and from RnB to rap.

The awards are sponsored by Zambian Breweries in a partnership with the National Arts Council of Zambia and with support from the Zambia Adjudicators Panel and the Zambia Association of Musicians.

This year’s awards will focus on 18 categories, culminating in the mosi lager song of the year accolade. Other categories will honor the best lifetime achievement, live recording – album, lead guitarists, bass guitarist, keyboard player, drummer, song writer, studio music producer, RnB/dance hall, hip-hop/rap, traditional/kalindula album, female radio DJ, new/upcoming artist, female artist, male artist and best album.

Fans will be able to nominate their favourite artists, with a panel of industry adjudicators following a set of strict criteria in order to assess the winners in each category.

Speaking at the event launch, tourism and arts permanent secretary Stephen Mwansa said music was about collaboration and partnership between musicians working in harmony, adding that the Mosi Lager Zambian music awards mirrors that spirit of partnership between the public and private sector.

“The Mosi Lager Music Awards brings together two exceptional aspects of being Zambian; our music and the Mosi-o-Tunya falls. They are part of our heritage. in that sense, the Mosi ZMAs and the Mosi Day of Thunder are an embodiment of the Zambian experience,” Mwansa said. “Today marks the beginning of yet another season of the Mosi Lager Zambian Music Awards. During this period we celebrate Zambian music. In essence, the Mosi ZMAs are collaboration among artists, the public and the music itself.

“Through the awards, a dialogue is held which appreciates and applauds our heritage and shapes the future. The awards epitomise the Zambian spirit, which strongly holds that together, we can change our world and make a difference.”

And speaking earlier, Zambian Breweries Marketing Director Thomas Kampuis said: “The Mosi Day of Thunder will center on performances as a way of championing the amazing talent we have in this country. Music is an important and extremely useful tool in society and to deny its power is a waste of a truly wonderful resource.”

Music penetrates almost every part of our lives: our rest, our entertainment, our education and our worship. Throughout history, it has celebrated the triumphs and tragedies of life. As Plato said: music gives soul to the universe, wind=gs to the mind, flight to the imagination,” he added.

Since its inception the Mosi Lager Zambian Music Awards has set a benchmark for all other industry awards and has built a reputation for fairness, in turn raising the bar in standards of technical and creative excellence within the music industry.

The event celebrates Zambia’s musical talent and inspires musicians. It also captures the excitement, anticipation and participation of fans young and old. In addition to recognising the winners, the Mosi Lager Zambian Music Awards develops up-coming artistes, nurtures their spirit, inspires them and gives them the technical capacity to express their creative ideas. The event also recognises the economic and social contribution of the industry in terms of job creation.

Details of the new-look event are still being finalised with support from the National Arts Council and details of award nominees, show line-up, how to vote and other plans for the event will be published over the coming weeks.

Progress can be followed on Facebook at www.facebook.com/MosiTrulyZambian and www.facebook.com/zambianmusicawards and through www.zambianmusicawards.com. Inquiries from musicians and fans are already pouring in as excitement mounts for the event, which has become a highlight of the entertainment and social calendar in recent years.

Last year’s winners included Chef 187, who won four awards and Abel Chungu, bagging three awards.