The entertainment community is on Friday expected to gather at the COMESA hall in Blantyre for the maiden award gala of the Nyasa Music Awards.

The entertainment community is on Friday expected to gather at the COMESA hall in Blantyre for the maiden award gala of the Nyasa Music Awards. It has been three weeks of media campaign by the nominees in a desperate move to woo fans and keep the votes coming. The list of nominees for the 2017 NMAs has a total of 74 acts that are competing for 17 awards which include Best Male Act, Best Gospel Act, Best Video and Album of the year. With four nominations apiece, rapper Tay Grin, singers Theo Thomson and Faith Mussa are the artists with the biggest number of nominations. The three artists face off in the category of Best Live act. Singer Zani Challe is the female artist with the biggest number of nominations in the categories of Best Video and Best Single for Single Tonight which features Nigeria’s Patoranking and Best Female Artist. Regarded as giants on the local music scene Lucius Banda, Skeffa Chimoto and Lulu are competing for the Best Secular Artist award which includes newcomer Smacks. It comes as no surprise that reggae band Black Missionaries have been nominated for the Best Live act award owing to their extensive tours which see them performing almost every weekend. Ma Blacks, as the band is popularly known, are up against Tay Grin, Theo Thomson and gospel singer Faith Mussa who has revived late Micheal Yekha’s idea of a one man band. Though they are missing on the Best Reggae Artist nomination list which include contemporary reggae singer, Trumale, the Black Missionaries are looking up to Anthony Makondetsa who is backed by the Chileka based band during his live performances. Capital FM’s very own Panther Rix is hoping to bring to the 2 floor Umoyo house in Blantyre the best radio DJ award which is being competed for by the likes of Kenny Klips and Joy Nathu. The list of nominees of this year’s NMAs has shown that urban music has taken over the local entertainment industry with most young acts appearing in about 90% of the categories.

Share: