MTN SAMA 19 – First list of winners for 2013

The 19th edition of the South African Music Awards (SAMAs) has arrived. The technical, non-broadcast or as host for the evening Tumi Morake said, the Tumi Show awards, were held in the Sun City resort on Friday evening. Some of the big nominees were in attendance, as were sponsors, media and other invited guests.

I was there tweeting, instagraming and filming (footage to follow soon). It was a lovely evening and this part of the awards weekend is always so enjoyable. It’s a nice way to ease into the festivities and it’s good to catch up with some of the nominees and winners. Here is a list of the winners from tonight:

• Lifetime Achievement Awards – Presented by Ray Phiri & Vusi Mahlasela
Johannes Kerkorrel (posthumously)
Sizwe Zako
Dr Thomas Chauke

• Best R&B/Soul/Reggae Album
Khaya – For You

• Best Alternative Album
iScream & The Chocolate Stix – The Paradox

• Best Classic & Instrumental Album
CH2 CH 2 Guitar Duo Live with the University of Pretoria Symphony – Orchestra

• Best Contemporary Faith Music Album
Ntokozo Mbambo – Filled

• Best Producer
Jax Panik for Due Drop Deluxe (Toya Delazy)

• Best Engineer
Mark Beling for Strong (BlackByrd)

• Best Music Video of the Year
Claudio Pavan for Honey Spiders – (The Parlotones)

• Remix of the Year
DJ Kent for Thinking about You Ft. Zonke DJ Kent Remix (Theo Kgosinkwe)

• Best Live DVD
The Captured Tour Concert Film – Lira

• Best Selling DVD
Vol. 16 Live at Carnival City – Joyous Celebration

• Best Selling Album
Roeper – Theuns Jordaan

• Best Selling Tru-Tone
Follow Me – DJ Cleo ft. Teddy Bears

• Best Selling Ring-Back-Tone
Loliwe – Zahara

• Best Selling Full-Track Download
You’re The Voice- Shout/J23 – Artists for a safer South Africa

• SAMPRA AWARD
Heavenly Sent – Mi Casa

Dr Malinga’s outfit deserves a mention (you decide whether it’s winning or not) but it had a lot of people talking… So I thought I should share the pic too.

Pics taken on my iPhone 5

Are you the next Miss South Africa?

This weekend the search to find the new Miss South Africa continues, as the nationwide search comes to Gauteng. The auditions take place at Carnival City out in Brakpan and so if you think you have what it takes to be the next Miss South Africa, then be sure to get on down there. Warning though, it wont be an issue ride. You’ll have to impress judges Sonia Raciti-Oshry, Sonia Sedibe and Kieno Kammies… but they’re not the only ones. Radio and TV personalities, Robert Marawa and Anele Mdoda join the panel and celebrity judges for this round.

If there’s one quote that sticks out in my mind, it’s Anele’s Twitter bio: “Be as interested as you are interesting.” and so if you’re auditioning this weekend, be sure to follow this wisdom
Should you make it through to the next round, you’ll join 33 other hopefuls at the Wild Coast Sun in KwaZulu-Natal for a series of workshops, set to take place between the 3rd and the 9th of September. During the workshops the girls will participate in workshops involving communication, elocution, make-up and hair, ramp modelling, health and fitness, and financial planning. They’ll then be put to the test with a bunch of tasks and the field will be narrowed down accordingly. 16 will make it through to the next round, but only 12 will make to the pageant stage, which is set to take place on the 9th of December at the Sun City Superbowl. You can catch the show on Mzansi Magic, DStv channel 107. For more information check out the official Miss SA site.

Jeff Dunham adds an extra Jozi show to his tour

Attention Jeff Dunham fans… if you don’t have your tickets and you’re still wanting to go (plus you’re in Jozi) you might want to read on. The star is back and due to popular demand, he has added an extra show to his Johannesburg leg of the tour.

The 17th of June has been added to the itinerary so if you’re one of those people who missed out on tickets, best you head to computicket now! Full press release below:

Jeff Dunham’s global appeal is undeniable. With three sold out arena shows in Johannesburg for his latest international tour “Controlled Chaos” the promoters have added a final show to meet the overwhelming demand at the box office on Sunday, 17 June at 1pm at Carnival City.

SAMA 18: Ray Phiri, Vusi Mahlasela honoured

Check out this short clip of what Ray Phiri and Vusi Mahlasela had to say about their long, illustrious and successful careers in music. The two were awarded the Lifetime Achievement Awards at the SAMA Industry Awards at the weekend.

SAMA 18 – day 1 recap

The South African Music Awards are in full swing. Last year the awards were held at Montecasino in Johannesburg… EPIC FAIL! After a series of technical and production issues, this year’s organisers decided to move the awards back to their rightful home – that being Sun City. The festivities kicked off at the Sun City Ballroom with the industry awards. This part of the two-day event includes categories such as Best Producer, Best Engineer, Best Live DVD among others. It’s very unfortunate that this part of the programme wasn’t well attended because there were some really great performances plus the engineers and the producers who are just as responsible for bringing you the music as much as the artist is, were honoured too.

The industry awards kicked off with an address by Arts and Culture Minister Paul Mashatile. He paid tribute to this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award candidates and then told guests how committed government is to growing the arts and culture industry in South Africa. You know how it goes, blah blah but let’s see. Comedians Tumi Morake and Tatz Nkonzo emceed the show. Before welcoming his co-host for the evening, Nkonzo opened with his own version of nominees MiCasa’s hit song These Streets. This was classic, hilarious. As soon as my videos are ready for upload, I’ll put them up here. The two then introduced the presenters and performers in true comic style, leaving guests in fits of laughter.

Besides the emcees and their ‘performances’ the audience got to see SAMA nominees Loyiso Bala and Idols star Lloyd Cele performing their song Ntando as well as a performance from Afrikaans singer Charlize Berg. Loyiso’s voice is sounding absolutely amazing. He really is one of the best vocalists I’ve heard and I have been a fan for almost a decade now, so hear how his voice has grown throughout the years is fantastic. Lloyd did a great job too! There were also performances from Afro-fusion band Stimela, Kabomo, Lira (love, love Miss Lira), Selaelo Selota, Solly Mahlangu and others, who all paid tribute to legends Vusi Mahlasela and Ray Phiri. On being awarded the Lifetime Achievement Awards, Phiri said “I’m grateful that I’ve been given an opportunity like this to sneak into your hearts. You’ve given me great memories.” He then joked about how to make it in the music business saying, “There’s one thing I know. Be friends with the SAMA, make friends with RISA, talk to the SABC and open your mind and be friends with Ray Phiri and everything will be fine”.

In addition to his Lifetime Achievement Award, Mahlasela has also been awarded the Martin Luther King Jr, César Chavez and Rosa Parks Visiting Professorship award from the University of Michigan in the US For his activism through music. Humbled by both awards, Mahlasela said, ‘Thank you, thank you, and thank you very please. It really gives me pleasure to receive this award on behalf of quite a lot of many who have really supported me up until now. Most difficult times, in the years that I started to be a professional musician. I wanted to go to school to study to be a doctor or a priest. Somebody told me that I was doing that through my music.” After their speeches, the two performed a beautiful and moving rendition of the smash hit Weeping.  So I thought what would this post be without a bit of music… Here is the Most Played Song on South African Radio, it’s Liquideep’s Alone, one of my best tracks:

Stay tuned for more action from this year’s South African Music Awards, coming to you from Sun City.

SAMA 18 – night one winners list

SAMA fever is here. The festivities kicked off at the Sun City complex earlier this evening. While this part of the awards wasn’t televised, it definitely was spectacular. The guests were treated to performances from the legendary stars Vusi Mahlasela and Ray Phiri, as well as performances from Lira, Selaeto Selota, Loyiso Bala & LLoyd Cele among many others. I’ll bring you more on my thoughts from the evening tomorrow, but for now here is the list of winners:

Best Producer

Dan Roberts – Six Winters by Laurie Levine

Best Engineer

Johan van der Colff – Loliwe by Zahara

Best Video of the Year

Ryan Peimer – It’s Magic by The Parlotones

Best Live DVD

Simphiwe Dana – An Evening with Simphiwe Dana (Live in Concert)

Remix of the Year

DJ Sbu – Lengoma featuring Zahara

Lifetime Achievement Awards

Ray Phiri and Vusi Mahlasela

Best Selling True-Tone Download of the Year

Facebook by DJ Cleo

Best Selling Ring-Back-Tone of the Year

Facebook by DJ Cleo

Best Selling Full-Track Download of the Year

Loliwe by Zahara

Most Played Song on South African Radio in 2011

Alone by Liquiddeep

 

It’s SAMA week

One week to go until the annual South African Music Awards takes place. The awards are back at their rightful home of Sun City this year and it’s going to be epic! I’ll be heading through on Sunday for the first night of awards. These will be for the technical and non-televised awards. While these winners wont be on your TV screens, they still deserve a shout out for the work they have contributed to the music industry in the past year, so I will be bringing you all that news.

As far as the Monday night, live broadcast goes things are still very under wraps. We don’t know who the hosts will be (Bonang and Trevor Gumbi would be my first choice) and who will be performing, but I’m pretty sure we can expect the likes of Zahara, Zakwe, MiCasa among others to take to the stage. There will be a big fashion show at Sun City too and obviously there will be loads of other news coming out of SA’s big musical night, so stay tuned. For now, check out my interview with Lira about her nominations:

More interviews to follow this week.

The countdown to Idols is on

Today I find myself at the Sun City complex out in the North West Province. The reason for my visit it to catch a glimpse of this year’s talent in the hit singing show Idols.  The field has been narrowed down from thousands of hopefuls to just a handful today and while I wont be able to share too much of what happens until you all see it on TV, I’m sure I can sneak a few pics of the judges and possibly some of the hopefuls who are in the running to be the new Idol.

This year I’m hoping to see a lot more soulful singers and I’ll put it out there, I think it’s time we have a female winner again. The boy’s club is cool and they’ve all done well in their respective days since Idols, but it’s time for a lady to win I feel. Look it’s based on votes and may the best person win, but this is just what I’m hoping will transpire. I’ve heard a few murmurs since I’ve been here of some of the interesting personalities you’ll get to see in this season… and I don’t mean the contestants or the judges, I mean a few TV personalities who you will love. Stay tuned, more to follow…

UPDATE:

The contestants I saw performing yesterday were great. They’re a very soulful bunch this year and I’m glad to see that. I don’t know who went through though, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see when the show airs on M-Net and Mzansi Magic this June. What I can say is that there are a few familiar faces (seasons gone by) that are there. If you watched another reality show a few years back on M-Net, you might recognise two of the young ladies too. There’s a soccer player turned singer who will get a lot of ladies voting no doubt and then there are a few other interesting characters too. It’s going to be a great season no doubt!

Catch Lira on her Captured Tour with Nokia

It’s all systems go for multiple award-winning singer Lira, who kicks off her Captured Tour in Johannesburg this weekend. The tour will see her travelling to six cities around the country,where she’ll be putting on a show like no other.  Each stop of the tour will be recorded as part of her forthcoming DVD, due out next year. I got to chat to the star last week for DStv.com the Phakade singer said she was excited to get on the road.

“The first DVD was just one night for one show. Now I’m taking that concept and moving it around the country, which is a first for me.”

In addition to her capturing some of the behind the scenes action in what goes into putting on a show like this, the star says there’s an opportunity for her fans to share their experiences with her and others too. “I wanted to give them a platform for them to experience themselves at shows and for us to capture the whole experience, not just from my perspective as an artist, but also from a fan’s perspective.”

Once this tour is done, the Channel O Music Video Award nominee will be heading back to America, where she’ll be releasing her album to that market. In pursuit of music’s biggest accolade, the Grammy, the star explains how she plans on doing that, “We’re taking it one step at a time. We’re just going over to make waves and to catch as much attention and to be remembered.”

While cracking it in the biggest music market in the world is somewhat daunting, the Feel Good singer said she is up for the challenge, “My team and I are ready. I always say yes the journey is difficult, but the scenery, the experience is why you go on your journey. It’s beautiful and it’s worth it. Sometimes the destination isn’t everything, the journey’s incredible.”

Lira’s Captured Tour dates:

9 October – The Boardwalk  Festive Lawn Area (PE)
22 October- Durban ICC (KZN)
26 October- Grand West Casino (CT)
29 October- Sun City (North West).
6 November- Free State National Botanical Gardens (Bloemfontein).

On the 29th of October, Lira will be recording her Sun City performance for the live DVD due out next year.

Be sure to visit www.misslira.com or Computicket to get your tickets for this not-to-be missed gig.

A Special Night with Josh Groban this November

I’ve just come across this press release online. It has to do with singer-songwriter Josh Groban, who will be returning to South Africa this November. I would actually like to see him this time around, I missed his other tour so I’m going to diarise this. I’m sure many of you will too. Press release below:

Big Concerts are proud to present “A Special Evening with Josh Groban” at The Superbowl, Sun City, on 26th and 27th November and in Cape Town, at the Grand Arena, GrandWest, on 29th and 30th November 2011.  These spectacular events are presented in partnership with Talk Radio 702, 567 Cape Talk and M-Net.

Upon the conformation of his tour to South Africa Josh Groban commented, “It is a great joy for me to return to South Africa. It remains in my heart as a country that has inspired me in so many ways and to prepare for my return visit brings back a flood of wonderful memories. It has been many years but I can’t wait to give everything I have to my amazing, and patient fans!”