By Kennedy Nyavaya/Winstone Antonio
When the Zimbabwe Music Awards (Zima) nominees were announced a week before their return edition last week on Saturday, many dismissed them as dull and not reflective of the local music scene.
Controversy had started brewing and, as it turned out at the ceremony, the winners’ list was even more bizarre, opening floodgates of public disgust. The much-touted “flawless and anonymous” judging system shockingly left unexpected winners gushing over their newly-acquired gongs almost unaccompanied.
This has raised dust on whether Zima is meant to celebrate real arts excellence or encourage mediocrity.
“The judges applied their minds, if it means they [artistes] submitted and did not get selected, tough luck, I am sure the next year is still available to submit again, but we do not follow emotions, we follow the system,” Zima boss Reason Sibanda had said during the nominee announcement.
However, the team of adjudicators whom he claimed to have been a diverse group drawn from across the spectrum, including academia and the media, among other sectors around the country, seems to not have applied any wits nor was their system as fool-proof as touted.
Not taking anything from the winners, as some deserved, but Zima judges have a case to answer on the bulk of their choices based on last year’s performances.
It is despicable how Takura would win over Ti Gonzi in the hip-hop genre category, Gemma Griffiths over Janet Manyowa and Tammy Moyo in Best Female Artiste of The Year and Nicholas Zakaria over Romeo Gasa — who was not nominated despite claiming to have submitted — among other outlandish outcomes not mentioned to save space.
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The ceremony was also marked by no-shows from most of the recipients who included Andy Muridzo, Freeman, DJ Stavo and Zakaria as they were nowhere near the awards ceremony venue.
As if the boob was not that enough, the awards organisers appeared to have forgotten that in the Best Promoter category there were no real promoters, but mere institutions purporting to be promoting local artistes.
On another note, in what appeared to be a publicity stunt, Wezhaz Executive Cars, a top-end car dealership in the capital, failed to bring the glitter to the awards as they had promised before the event.
They had made it public through a local weekly that they would provide their swanky vehicles for celebrities and dignitaries on the day for free, but surprisingly many of the celebrities and dignitaries failed to arrive on time and some had to find their own means of transport to the awards venue.
Sadly, it appears as the cars were at the venue for advertising purposes rather than ferrying of guests as had earlier been announced.
Also, some of the awards organisers are managers or linked to some artistes who walked away with gongs. Yes, a true circus, who would not want his or her own to win? Obvious more questions than answers.
This has compromised Zima’s credibility and there is only one way out and that is accountability. But, despite the contention, the unrelenting organisers, after a reported executive meeting on Thursday, have vowed to not reveal the faces behind the mess.
“The executive has taken a position. Zima is closing the chapter on conversations around possible omissions. Zima 2020 was concluded. Our efforts are now towards aligning input from stakeholders as we ready for Zima 2021,” Zima spokesperson Benjamin Nyandoro told Standard Style after the meeting.
This is shameful reneging from an earlier promise that they would reveal the judges on awards night in order to sustain trust that the system is incorruptible.
One wonders whether the decision was made because the judges are ashamed of what they produced or Zima is perilously covering up on the farcical outcome.
Whatever the case, this could impact on how serious arts stakeholders — including artistes, fans and sponsors — will take the awards next year, if they manage to return.
This could have been an opportune time for Zima to restore an already contaminated legacy by directing the blame to the anonymous faces that unanimously conspired to frustrate music lovers unless they are ready to start building trust from square one in their next edition.
The awards ceremony failed to bring that expected celebratory mood of musical excellence and creativity with the organisers going into a defensive mood for their blunders.
