By Mkhokheli Zibengwa
THE 22nd edition of the National Arts Merit Awards (NAMA) that were held on Saturday at ZITF in Bulawayo has sparked criticism among local and international creatives. Many individuals from the City of Kings have described the event as disorganised, bogus, and outright unfair.
Renowned broadcaster Ezra Tshisa Sibanda says the recently held NAMA Awards do not reflect our diversity as a nation but it's Harare organizers and their artists who were bused to Bulawayo to enjoy a weekend out and then rewarded with gongs.
"These awards have gone down to the lowest point judging by the organisation, nominees and fooling of the general public into believing these are national awards.This year's awards were hosted in Bulawayo's ZITF Hall 3 with nothing to show they were indeed in Bulawayo."
"The NAMAs have broken the trust of the artists. There is no integrity in how the awards are done.These awards are meant to be the highest accolades that could be bestowed on Zimbabwean artists.They should represent standard of creative excellence that marks the height of success to those in the creative sector.Regrettably NAMAs have devalued the honour and prestige, which the national awards should stand for."
Sibanda alluded that judging from the recently held show, NAMAs are Harare awards not national, as more artists celebrated and awarded are from the Capital.
"There is no integrity in the way at which the show is being produced, the planning, the awarding of artists & in extending the basic courtesy of respecting artists that don't come from the Capital. According to NAMAs Bulawayo, Masvingo, Vic Falls, Binga, Plumtree, Mutare, Bundura, Gwanda etc have fewer or no artists which merit national recognition"
"These Awards are based on personal connections, personal bias, rather than merit or achievement.Bulawayo artists that were given an opportunity to perform last night include Msiz'kay, Sam Muzik, Noluntu J, MJ Sings were given only one song to perform lasting not more than 2 minutes while their Harare counterparts given more time to perform several songs on stage. I can't talk of winners because it's scandalous and a waste of time. Few of those deserved the merit awards. The fact that big names and most winners didn't turn up to receive those awards is evident enough these awards are deemed useless now," he said.
NAMA Awards Spokesperson Tinashe Kitchen told Byo Arts News Online (BANO) that there is no such thing as a perfect award show and they cannot please everyone.
"It is the nature of awards that there will always be people who are unhappy with the winners this is to be expected. Even the Grammy’s have this issue. In that regard, we welcome all feedback and comments from all artists and stakeholders."
Mr Kitchen went on to clarify that NAMA awards are national Awards which seeks to promote, honour and celebrate artists from all corners of Zimbabwe not only Harare or Bulawayo.
"I believe that it is important that we acknowledge that NAMA is a national event. It is not a Harare event, nor is it a Bulawayo event. That means, what we see on stage is not a reflection of any one area of Zimbabwe, but as many areas as possible"
"I would also hope that those who are critical of these national awards also noticed that we had winners of awards from Masvingo, from Mutare, and many other parts of Zimbabwe. This is what we want to see on our stage - diversity. Not just from one region. Even when the awards are held in Harare, we as JCMC have made every effort possible to showcase diversity on our stage. In our first year as managers for example, NAMA had 12 local languages spoken on stage. This year, thanks to the Culture Fund and European Union, we included sign language in an effort to be even more inclusive. It is unfortunate that these aspects are never spoken about"
He said, "We also acknowledge that Bulawayo is the cultural hub of this country. And we tried our best to include elements of culture from the region in our performances. We had artists such as the legendary Albert Nyathi kick off the show, followed by traditional dance – from our all-Bulawayo-based dancers (who were amazing throughout the night). We also wanted to promote a lot of young up-and-coming artists from the region such as Msiz’kay, Bhekiwe, Calvin Mangena, the amazing female poet Sithandazile, and Noluntu J, but giving them the national stage."
Some of Bulawayo artists who won awards at the 22nd edition of NAMAs include John Mabuyane, Musawenkosi, Charmaine Madau, Sindiso Dube, Kinah the Music, Agnes Ncube, Zibusiso Mabonisa e.t.c
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