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Tafadzwa Zimoyo Senior Arts Reporter
Yesterday, the Zimbabwe Music Awards (Zima) decided to release the nomination list for the 2021 categories ahead of the award ceremony next month at Country Club Manor, Harare.

Soon after announcing the list, some music fans took their anger to social media, saying the Zima list was a sham. One angry fan only identified as Jangu said: “I think Zima did not do their homework well, as they are always repeating the same mistakes here and there.

What is wrong with the organisation?

“Do they know what they are doing or they are there just doing for the sake of it?”

Perhaps there is something fundamentally wrong with Zima asking musicians to submit their work.  If the best do not submit, Zima ends up with a list backyard musicians, some of whom struggle even to get airplay or requests on radio.

For instance, how do you explain the inclusion of Delroy HKD, a Zimdancehall singer, in the Best Sungura category at the expense of Mark Ngwazi who was topping the charts with is sungura hits in 2020?

Surprisingly, according to his profile, “Delroy is a multi-versatile artist whose sound is a blend of numerous genres such as Grime, Dancehall, Reggae, Hip Hop, Soca and Classical Jazz.,” that is what he is known for.

Does Zima have a verification committee process or they just decided to put names for the sake of progress and adding numbers on the nomination list?

Earlier in the day Zima botched up when they nominated gospel singer Everton Mlalazi under the Best Producer category together with Alliviate Beats, DJ Tamuka and Levels of Chillspot Records.

Mlalazi is not a producer, but it was his producer Nigel Nyangombe who wanted to be named. It was later rectified, but according to the information submitted the category still carried the name of Mlalazi.

Zima should not be making the same mistakes over and over as they risk losing credibility. Such awards call for credibility so that the brand grows.

Meanwhile, despite the beauty and advent of technology, the host Arthur Evans was jittery during his presentation, it appears as if he was overwhelmed in his novel experience.