The South African Music Awards, which will be taking place later this month, are set to push the envelope this year. From unique collaborations, the creative direction and production, organisers are promising a lot. Nhlanhla Sibisi, CEO of the Recording Industry of South Africa, said that the hard work going into this years awards is paying off. “I am extremely excited with the direction we are taking this year. Particularly with the collaborations that will happen on stage. In the past we have had many collaborations but this year we are talking about breaking barriers when it comes to genres and languages. The collaborations are going to be unique, last year we had Nathi and Karlien Van Jaarsveld singing Nomvula together, this year will be bigger”, he said.
As it's name suggests, the Samas are a celebration of the music industry in SA. “We are as young as democracy in our country, we started out in 1995 in a town hall in Alberton and this year we will be having it at the City Bowl in Sun City. Over the years we have tried to be as reflective as possible of the South African music industry and we pride ourselves in this. I think that just as music in SA has evolved, so have we as an awards show”, he said.
Now in its 23rd year, Sibisi said that the awards are distinctly South African, “There are many other award shows but they are genre or format specific, we embrace everyone, it's not just about being in a certain genre or having your music playlisted on a specific radio station. The Samas also serve as a benchmark to the rest of the continent, we have organisers from Nigeria, Ghana and other parts asking for advice from us”, said Sibisi.
However the awards have not been spared any controversies, last week two videos by hip-hop artist Nasty C that were initially nominated were disqualified. The stars Good Girls and Don't Do It music videos were disqualified from this year's awards after they were found to have not been aired by broadcasters during the specified entry period dictated by the rules of the SAMAs.
“Well that was very unfortunate, in the past we relied on record companies to submit the correct information, this year when doing our checks we found the error. In my view I don’t think this brings to question the credibility of the awards, we saw the error, people spoke and we listened,it restores our credibility because we are receptive”, he said.
Commenting on this years nominees, Sibisi said, “You can call this the year of the new comer, there are a lot of newbies who have been nominated in huge categories and this is great, it’s great that they have been given the nod, even this is reflective of the industry”.
For the first time this year, a new category has been added, Best African Artist. “We have been discussing this category for the past two years, we really felt that we need to include it because collaborations between South African and other other African musicians are huge, their songs are played on our radio stations”, Sibisi said.
Although Sibisi was numb on who would be hosting the awards or on who would be performing he did say that there could be a comedian on stage. “Look unlike in the States where the host of award shows are a part of the marketing campaign, we do things very differently. We like to focus on the nominees first and then tease the performers and hosts. I will say though that we might just throw in a comedian”.
“People can expect a top notch production, in the past we have been criticised for the level of production but that was mainly because of our budget. This year it will amazing from start to finish”, he said.
The SAMAs will be held at Sun City’s Super Bowl over two nights on 26 & 27 May.
