A workshop for musicians will be held this weekend in preparation for the inaugural Cape Town Victory Awards.
The Cape Town Gospel Association was founded by Christian radio presenters Nwabisa Lisa and Bongani Peppeta. The idea behind the association is to implement solutions and develop the Cape Town gospel music industry.
“We want to uplift gospel music in Cape Town,” said Lisa. “There is so much talent. We gathered the artists to discuss their problems and realised there is no infrastructure to honour or develop talent.”
To this end they decided to hold an awards ceremony and last month launched the campaign with a gospel extravaganza in Gugulethu.
On Friday they will host a workshop at Orion Church International in Mitchells Plain, where they will discuss the music business, branding, creativity as well as have talk sessions with community radio stations. They will also inform participants about the nomination process for the awards. The workshop will run from 9am to 4pm.
“There will be 26 categories encompassing all gospel genres,” Lisa explained. “To qualify, you need to live in the Western Cape because you need to have experienced the problems here.”
Aside from Lundi, the Western Cape is not known for its gospel stars. However, Lisa says there are many popular artists in the province.
“In Kayelitsha, Pastor Tywaku is big. In Langa, the singing duet of Jongi and Sihlanu are popular, while in Mitchells Plain, Swift D is very popular. There is also Chuman and the Nu Praise, which is contemporary gospel.
• The Cape Town Victory Gospel Awards take place in November.