2018-04-30Staff Report 2 " Eveline de Klerk SWAKOPMUND - Female power dominated the star-studded prestigious Namibia Annual Music Awards (NAMAs) that went down in Swakopmund on Saturday night. President Hage Geingob and First Lady Monica Geingos graced the awards ceremony, which is now in its eighth edition. Most notably, the deeply African rooted, Sally Boss Madam, saxophonist Suzy Eises and funky Chikune walked away with two awards each during the live show that was held for the second time in the coastal town. Sally Boss Madam reaffirmed her position in the music industry by scooping the Female Artist of the Year award for her album “My Black” as well as the Best R&B song for “Ecstasy”. Although not entirely new to the music scene, sassy saxophonist, Suzy Eises took the Best Newcomer award as well as the coveted Album of the Year award with her self-titled album. Chikune walked away with the Best Afro-pop inclusive of Township Disco for her song, “Pieces” and the Best Collaboration for her song, “Too Much Sauce” featuring Nyashinski. Last year’s Female Artist of the Year, Monique English took the Best Single and also scooped the best Gospel award with N.I.A for, “I give my love to you” on which she featured. Male artist of the Year went to Kalux for his album, “Tuhafeni”. He also scooped the best Damara Punch award for his song, “Ra #Au”. Best Producer award went to Sam-E Lee Jones for “Still in love” he produced for Teqla. Paradox walked away with the Best Duo/Group award, while Pangaman featuring Mavis Braga and Sam-E Lee Jones took the Best House award for “Cool under pressure”. Best Rap/Hip-Uop went to KP Illest for “Okay Okay” and Exit scooped the Best Kwaito award for “Oludalo Lange”. Masanga took the Best Traditional award and N.I.A was awarded the Best Gospel award for “I give my life to you” on which Monique English features. D-Naff got the Best Reggae award, while PDK, who entered the awards for the first this year, got the best Soukous/Kwasa award for “Shike Naana” featuring Castro. Best Afrikaans went to Reeziana and Bulllet Ya Kaoko took honours for “December” in the Best Oviritje category. Performances and controversies Not surprisingly, Gazza took home the Best Music video award and sent out a strong message to his fellow artists. Gazza, initially had two videos nominated in the category for his songs, “Up, Up, Away”, and “Abangani Bako”. However, the latter was removed and replaced by Sally’s music video after artists and the public objected the two nominations. As he accepted the award on Saturday night, Gazza said he makes music for the public and not for the artists. “I do what I do not for the artists, but for the public, and to put Namibia on the map. I am here to push Namibia forward,” he said. While almost all Namibian performers such as Twazzis, Kalux, One Blood, Exit and KP illest, gave explosive performances during the live show, South African Gqom group Distruction Boyz had a rather disappointing performance. Babes Wodumo tried her level best to entertain Namibians, however, her famous dance moves were rather swallowed by the stage that was just simply too big for her to fill. The best performance of the night certainly was that of the Lifetime Achievers award recipients, the legendary, Siegfried ‘Ou Jomo Haoseb and Sebulon ‘Axue Gomachab, who performed their classic compositions during the live show. " 2018-04-30Staff Report 2
