Dr. Innocent Nahabwe, CEO Zzina Awards, sums up the recently concluded 3rd edition of the most prestigious entertainment awards in Uganda. Read full statement below:
How did the Zzina Awards begin?
A few years ago, when we were seeking to launch Galaxy FM 100.2 Zzina into this overly saturated market, we identified a strong need for Ugandan urban music. We settled on doing at least 70% Ugandan music and only 30% from elsewhere. This was at the time when Nigerian music was getting the lion’s share of airplay on music outlets including Radio, TV and Night Clubs.
By then, only music from “popular’ artists would get airplay. That meant it was an uphill task for any new artiste to make a break through. Their CDs were thrown away at receptions daily giving the big four a comparative advantage. The ground was not level. It was also hard to get good music from new people because they stood little to no chance in the industry.
I am happy that as we played Ugandan music and gave a chance to new talent, the number of new “chat toppers” grew exponentially. Because we grew exponentially, many stations adopted our style and played more Ugandan music. We are glad for our impact on the music industry. We now have Gravity Omuttuju, Sheebah, Ziza Bafana, Aganaga and others competing favourably with the likes of Bobi Wine, Bebe, Dr. Jose Chameleone and Radio and Weasel among others. Consequently, other media outlets including radio and TV started and now play more Ugandan music.
With the growing pool of great artists, the idea of the Zzina Awards was birthed. The awards create a platform to drive competition, recognize, appreciate and reward the best of the best in music and entertainment in Uganda.
The accolade:
The Zzina Award is a Bronze–brass trophy whose theme is “ Inspire, Excel and reach for the starts”. It has a prominent music symbol and a star at the top to symbolize this. The trophy is awarded to artistes, producers, comedians and other entertainers in various categories as voted by the listeners. We also award one legend that has had a huge impact on the entertainment industry.
The 3rd Zzina Awards:
Last Friday, we held the 3rd edition of the prestigious Zzina Awards at Theatre Labonita. We wish to congratulate all the nominees and the winners; your work is the reason this was an amazing year in our industry. Your talent and hard work are truly worthy of our listeners’ highest honour. Last Friday’s awards was a referendum by our listeners on what they think about the entertainment products in the country. All nominees apart from the legend category were done strictly by your votes.
We also wish to applaud the legend for this year, Mr. Daniel Kazibwe a.k.a Ragga Dee for this tremendous contribution to the music industry. Receiving the award, Daniel said: “ It’s great that I have been awarded when I am still alive. It’s important to receive such an award when you are still alive.”
We also agree with him on what he said about the nominees. “Everyone who was nominated is a winner but there can only be one winner. Even those who were not nominated are winners only that the list was too long,” Ragga Dee said. This is indeed true seeing as we received well over 300,000 votes for these awards. The list of nominees was really big. You will be surprised that we receive well over 1000 songs a week at the radio. The number of artistes is increasing exponentially. It’s harder for an artiste to shine through this crowd. The winners therefore deserve all the praise for their craft and hard work.
The effect of Fans teams:
We are living in a social media era and music is driven in a big part by its circulation on the social media platforms. Fans teams now have a huge impact on any artists. Teams such as Gagamel, Sheebaholics, Firebase Army, Kings, Team Rema, Team Radio and Weasel to mention but a few, are very active in voting for their stars. It’s very important that all artistes work hard to engage with his fans. We are seeking ways to engage these teams to grow this industry.
Music for Unity:
Music is a very strong tool for communication. We have seen music used in the anti-apartheid campaign in South Africa and anti racism campaigns in the US. Recently, here in Uganda, Music has come to the spot after being used for partisan politics. Like Sarah Dessen once said “Music is the great uniter. An incredible force. Something that people who differ on everything and anything else can have in common.”
We implore the musicians to use their music to beat the unity drums for the peace of this country that we all want.
And it’s important that all artistes come out to call for unity and calmness. Each of you is an ambassador who can influence others in the industry; it’s not enough to just listen and agree – we must take action.
Artistes turn up:
I have attended many award shows in this country and I always disappointed by the low turn up of the artistes. This is your event. Its like a deacon not turning up for their ordination. May called me asking “have we won so that we come?” My answer was a straight no. Honesty and transparency that we hold dear cant allow us to do that. It’s a fun evening with great interaction and performances that needs your presence.
We were elated to see that over 80% of the nominees at the Award Ceremony at Labonita. We hope next time, we shall get everyone coming. We will make the experience a lot better at the next bigger, better venue.
Media Presence:
The media gave Zzina Awards quality time in their programmes and pages. The cream of the town allocated their reporters, photographers, writers and presenters to cover the event. NTV, NBS TV, New Vision, Daily Monitor, Observer, Red Pepper plus online websites and bloggers all had representatives at the award night. And we continue to read, listen and watch everything about the awards. Awards without the media cannot thrive. We hail the media for the continued support.
Road ahead:
Following the awards, we received overwhelming feedback mostly of congratulates for organizing the most transparent awards in Uganda. We also received some criticism on the categories and the process. All that has been received and we shall use that to improve the next ones. Next year, we shall seek to hold the event in a bigger venue for your comfort and pleasure.
We shall have a grand party for the Bazzinyi with all the award nominees and winners this May 15th at One Love Beach. We invite you to come and have a blast. We thank you for the support and pledge to continue improving and delivering on the Zzina Awards.