Ugandan singer Eddy Kenzo was given an award by the American TV channel Black Entertainment Television (BET) on Sunday in Los Angeles, California.
Kenzo won in a new BET category called “Viewers Choice: Best International Category”, along with Ghana’s dance hall singer Stonebwoy.
The award, for Kenzo’s 2014 song “Sitya Loss”, was received with jubilation in Uganda almost akin to the winning of an Olympic medal by a Ugandan athlete.
However, by Thursday evening Ugandan time, July 2, 2015, practically the only news websites that were mentioning Kenzo’s win were Uganda, Ghanaian, South African and Nigerian, with almost no mention in the crucial American media and entertainment media.
In most other parts of Africa, there was also barely any mention of the Kenzo win.
Part of the reason was that the award was in reality a token nod to the international music market, to give the impression of inclusiveness by BET.
Explained one Kenyan website:
“Ghanaian dancehall artist, Stonebwoy and Ugandan singer, Eddy Kenzo, each bagged a prize from Sunday’s BET award gala but only Africans noticed their win. The two were handed their prize ‘behind the scene’. This has been a common practice in BET, treating African artists with apprehension…
Ugandans who overestimated the significance of the award did not appear to have a clear grasp of where BET stands in the U.S. entertainment market, and that a BET award, even the main awards dominated by American R&B and Hip-Hop acts, is not a music industry standard but just one of many awards given out by the American entertainment industry.
The fact that the Kenzo win has gone unmentioned in America and even in most of Africa should help give Ugandans — who tend to get overenthusiasti
Americans typically view the rest of the world as a footnote, an also mention. This includes the view of their ancestral home Africa by Black Americans.
But as awards and media tries to gain an international profile in the Internet age, there is a tendency to hand out token awards and mentions to world musicians, actors, novelists and film makers.
About Author:
Timothy Kalyegira is a Ugandan writer, journalist, researcher and political commentator.
