After failing to take place on two occasions, Urban Music People (UMP) Music and Media Awards were finally held at Golden Peacock in Blantyre on Tuesday.
The awards ceremony dubbed Night of Excellence decorated creatives whose winners were already announced in November this year. The red carpet event which recognises achievements in the country and Africa delayed to start disappointing some people before it went into gear later with some disorder.
But despite the gaps, the hosts of Fatsani Kalonda and Chisomo Nyirenda handled the event professionally and kept the not so huge audience lively throughout.
The event, whose guest of honour was Blantyre City Mayor Isaac Jomo Osman, opened with the Uyo Dance Challenge grand finale which was supposed to feature five finalists but only four showed up before getting down to the awards.
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The four groups combated starting off with traditional and freestyle before moving to other categories. The groups showed seriousness in their dances as well as props and costumes with one of the acts winning the heart of the mayor, who ended up rewarding their performance with money.
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But at the end of it all it was Future Kings that won the contest walking home with K1 million.
The awards excited the audience with creatives receiving their awards but some winners did not make it on the night including musician Patience Namadingo, who dominated bagging the Song of the Year for ‘Tuli’, Best Humanitarian, Artist of the Year (Male) and Best Live Act awards and Eli Njuchi who claimed two awards namely Album of the Year for Cifu and Best Afrobeats/Fusion Act.
Eli Njuchi did not show up following death of five artists namely Vincent Mkwinda, Raphael Chitsonga, MacFarlane Banda, Elivacy Myaba and Wilfred Kapengule Jr, who were part of his The Hive Band.
The five died recently in fatal car accident in Ntcheu on their way to The Hive Experience concert in Lilongwe. Earlier on, the organisers also paid tribute to the five fallen artists.
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The other winners on the night included ‘Pangolin’ star Jetu who claimed the Artist of the Year (Female) and to cap it all, she also performed during the event. Lilongwe – based Masintha Women’s Choir, the ‘Takulandira’ makers which bagged the Best Gospel Act Award, excited the audience during presentation of the award.
They performed their track briefly before. “Glory be to God for this award. We would like to thank people for the support,” the group’s lead vocalist Judith Dzonzi said. Osman hailed all the winners on the night and called upon them to continue working hard and opened up to creatives saying his office was ready to work with them to propel entertainment in Blantyre.
“My door is open, let us talk, we need to breathe life to entertainment in Blantyre. I am passion about arts and this is why I made myself available,” he said.
Other winners on the night included Onesimus (Sadc Regional Artist), Zambia’s Yo Maps (African Artist of the Year), Lady Aika ( Best New Artist Female) and Chain Oh Abebu (Best New Artist Male).
Wisdom Chitedze posthumously collected the Lifetime Achievement Award. In the media awards Times Group’s Fatsani Che Kalonda claimed the TV Personality of the Year whereas Times Group got the Best Print Media House through The Daily Times newspaper and Best Radio Station through Times Radio.
The other winners included Innocent Kumchedwa (Best Online Arts Journalist), Mwayi Simbota (Best Radio DJ Female), Joy Nathu (Best Radio DJ Male), DJ Mighty Virus ( Best Club DJ Male) and DJ Nyenyezi ( Best Club DJ Female ) and Best Travel with Mervis ( Best Tourism Content Creator). Singer and guitarist Agorosso closed the curtain in the early hours of Wednesday.
