Music enthusiasts made a grand entrance on a black carpet laid straight down to mark the route leading to the designated photoshoot area, at the 16th annual Metro FM Music Awards nominations ceremony on Tuesday.
The announcement of the awards at the Forum in Bryanston was a celebration of the pride of African musicians of all genres.
We walked straight into a party room, and because Metro FM is about music, a DJ playing beautiful house and dancehall sounds was befitting.
The theme for the awards is “What’s Next is all that Matters”, speaking to what lies beyond the accolades that artists have acquired thus far.
TV personality Lalla Hirayama walked in wearing black denim shorts that showed off her legs, a blue and white chiffon shirt with hints of red. She completed her daring look with gladiator black heels and was effortlessly stunning.
Another fashion adventurous celeb to walk the carpet was Metro FM’s DJ Lerato Kganyago, who wore a short black denim skirt, a black sheer top, a silver drooping chain and a floral kimono robe with black heels.
Mo Flava walked in looking rather simple, but equally fresh - black shirt, blue jeans and purple sneakers.
New group on the Afro-block Soul Kulture from Cape Town, who were nominated three times, were dressed in vintage style easily likened to a cowboy look. They wore Panama hats, tucked in checked shirts and brown shoes.
LootLove (Luthando Shosha) also made an appearance wearing a striped black and white T-shirt, black cut-out jeans and white sneakers. She said she was at the event supporting Kwesta and Nasty C.
Speaking of Kwesta, he pulled off the monochrome-theme gangster style with his white jeans, black T-shirt, a white jacket and sneakers. He was nominated in four categories, which included the much contested Song of The Year award for his hit Ngud.
Kelly Khumalo was present as well, wearing a black catsuit, but bagged just one nomination.
Other celebrities present were Anati, Mtee, A Reece, Nasty C, Siphokazi January, Bujee and Vusi Nova.
After the red carpet, we moved into the theatre seating, a smokey lit room and the stage embodied what we were there for. Two huge award trophies stood at the corners of the stage and the podium.
Unathi Msengana MC’ed the night and her husky voice was captivating. She wore black, harem-type pants with a black sequin embroidered crop-top.
Soul Kulture gave a wonderful performance of three songs from their album Ngelinye’ilanga that set the stage ablaze.
The end of the welcome speech from Msengana gave way to a long programme of speeches from the sponsors which lasted for almost three hours, but at the end of it all the mood still shot straight up to excitement and competitiveness.
The announcement of the nominees came after Musa Sekwene’s performance, one of which was for his nominated song Mthande, featuring the legendary Robbie Malinga.
The full list of nominees was flooded with new acts in the music scene, and when a favourite was announced, the room erupted with excitement.
In the end, the voting lines were officially opened and celebrations continued in the foyer area that was turned into a performance and lounge area to chill in until the wee hours of the morning. Some people still had to make it to work early the following morning.
The Metro FM awards ceremony will be held on February 25 at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli ICC in Durban for the fifth year running.
Clearly Durban is really rocking.