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Peter Tanyanyiwa

Arts Correspondent

Organisers of this year’s edition of the Zimbabwe Music Awards (ZIMA) have said they are working on restoring credibility to the Zimbabwean awards system which recently came under scrutiny of the public eye.

The public has been questioning some awards given to some individuals and the criteria used.

ZIMA has put together a new team with the main aim of restoring credibility to the awards in the country.

This was revealed on Friday at the 2023 edition of Zimbabwe Music Awards announcement of the roadmap and partnerships at a press briefing in Harare

The theme for ZIMA 2023 is “Re-Imagining The Industry” and the event will be officially held on June 3 at 7 Arts Theatre in Harare.

ZIMA executive Fungai “Kush” Zvirawa said the carefully selected team was set to add value and colour to the awards system in the country.

“We are bringing colour to the awards system in Zimbabwe, this is a team which was carefully chosen,” he said. “We need to reimagine our rich heritage. We also have some interesting advisor who will be announced soon.

“The new team and I are joining ZIMA to reimagine the music industry, we are so excited to add value and colour to the Zimbabwean music industry, we are encouraging cultural diversity.

“We are hoping to brighten up the music industry. With the new board coming through, we hope it can be sustainable as we monetise the music industry.

“As we support the global integration into online and digital spaces for our music, the future of a Zimbabwean sound is in that universe. We strive towards an African renaissance and genuine renewal in the Zimbabwean arts sector and we acknowledge the significance of transformative innovation in our music sector.”

Zvirawa said despite the known challenges Zimbabwe was facing, it was time to celebrate with the rest of the world and consciously put the local sound in the forefront.

“As we embrace the best forms of entertainment via digital media, we are in dire danger of ignoring our own proud heritage,” he said. “We now need to re-imagine the best of both worlds and to draw on the rich heritage, wisdom and experience that is so closely bound to the very industry we hope to transform.

“ZIMA23 will help us acknowledge the advantages of drawing our rich music heritage into the ongoing re-imagining process. At the very least, our musical heritage need to be tapped into round about now. It is time.”

ZIMA events representative Marshall Shonhai said the team acknowledged that many were losing faith in local awards, so they had been roped in to restore credibility.

“We have artistes who have said they no longer want to participate in awards anymore, so we have already started engaging artistes so that they air out their grievances,” he said.

“With the new team at ZIMA I can assure music lovers and artists that they can restore their trust in local awards, not just the ZIMA, but across the board as we are working hard to address their grievances.”

ZIMA will celebrate and recognize the outstanding achievements of Zimbabwean musicians, artists, and industry professionals who have shown exceptional talent in their respective fields in the year 2022.

This year there are 25 categories and submissions will come for 24 of them, with one being a special award — The Lifetime Achievement Award — which does not require any submissions.

Veteran artist Albert Nyathi commended the sponsors who are partnering ZIMA this year and encouraged other corporates to be forthcoming.