By Stevie Muliya:
Two music awards events, namely Uzimu Vibes and Maso, are set to split fans as they will be held on the same day in the same city but at different venues.
Uzimu Vibes awards, which seek to celebrate the workings of gospel musicians in the country and have been introduced by Christian company Uzimu Vibes, will be held on November 25 2023 in Lilongwe whereas Maso awards will be held on the same day at Bingu International Convention Centre (BICC).
Uzimu Vibes Director of Operations Robin Pemba said yesterday that they engaged organisers of Maso awards on the dates but they decided to go ahead as the events were different.
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“We were the first to announce that our event would be held on November 25 2023 and organisers of Maso Awards came later to ask us to change our dates, which turned out to be a challenge. For us, the awards are solely for gospel artists,” Pemba said.
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He said there was no “bad blood” between them and Maso awards organisers— just that they could not agree on date change.
However, Pemba and team are yet to come out clear on the venue of their event.
Maso Awards Executive Director Augustine Mukisi admitted that they consulted Uzimu Vibes on the issue but that they “refused” to change their dates.
“We always consult when coming up with our dates and we thought it wise to engage Uzimu Vibes, having realised that we were holding our events on the same day. For us, we had already planned our calendar despite announcing the date later,” Mukisi said.
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He said their worry at the moment is that people will think that “we are disorganised”.
“I wish there was a proper solution to this; otherwise, we are tapping into the same audience,” Mukisi said.
Having been held in Blantyre, Maso Awards has moved to the capital city, indicating that they will be rotating it.
The awards have 32 categories and the organisers have since engaged the public to start nominating their favourite artists in different categories.
Uzimu Vibes Awards has 20 categories and organisers have also called upon people to vote for their favourite artists through an online voting platform.
Ahead of voting, Pemba said nominations for the 2023 Uzimu Vibes will open today and close on October 13 2023.
