Midlands to honour outstanding artists

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THE Midlands Music Organisation will on September 23 host the third edition of the Midlands Music Awards (MMAs) in Gweru.

THE Midlands Music Organisation will on September 23 host the third edition of the Midlands Music Awards (MMAs) in Gweru.

BY Nicola Gibson

Mavis-Koslek

MMAs is an annual ceremony that seeks to acknowledge and honour artists from the Midlands. Running under the theme, Celebrating Arts, Culture and Music Excellence in the Midlands province, the awards will be held at Cathedral Hall MMA’s vice-president and functions coordinator Mavis Koslek said preparations were at an advanced stage.

“I hope this year will be a bigger event than the previous ones as we honour our outstanding musicians,” she said.

“We expect more support from the community and we want to develop more artists as we are growing each year.”

The event will be spiced up with performances by the Mhere bothers Mathias and Daniel, Roman and Future Crew, Afriken Ur Highness, GoodChild, Legion as well as Pastor Olinda.

Koslek said they had cast their nets wide and reached artists from Kwekwe, Zvishavane and Shurugwi. However, she said they were yet to get responses from Gokwe, Mvuma and Mberengwa.

She said MMAs was also a platform to expose artists from the Midlands, who for long had been overshadowed by those from major cities like Harare and Bulawayo.

“I found out that Midlands artists were not getting recognition on the national arena. Only a few like Tongai Moyo and Mathias Mhere have won awards at national level,” Koslek said.

“At least now our Midlands artists are starting to gain recognition at national level, thanks to the MMAs.”

Several artists who will be performing at the awards ceremony said they were excited to be part of MMAs.

Jazz artist Brandon Mvula said fans should expect a great performance from him.

“The audience should expect a thriller since I’m the most nominated artist at this year’s MMA’s,” he said.

“It is going to be a unique show because I will perform alongside Edith Weutonga. I’m bringing new tracks from my forthcoming album Experiental.”

Another artist performing on the day would be Samkoko, who promised fire works.

“My assurance is that I’m going to entertain. It will be fireworks baba,” he said.

Last year’s event saw Mathias walking away with two awards for the best gospel music and best album of the year. Mathias is likely to retain his title following success of his fifth album Double Double.

However, he is likely to get stiff competition from his brother Daniel, who recently released his debut album, Heavy Rain.