Another attempt to honour Port Elizabeth musicians of all genres is on the cards as a local events company paves the way for their first Nelson Mandela Bay Music Awards on Friday November 30 at Nangoza Jebe Hall, New Brighton.
Although this is the first time #041Events will host the awards, the event is not the first of its kind. The Bay Area Music Awards by Ashton Prince, introduced in 2012, also sought to honour artists in all music genres.
The awards were held annually until 2015, skipping 2016, and then again in 2017. However, Prince died at the beginning of November and there was no communication of whether the event would be held in 2018.
BayFM’s Sebenzile Zalabe, who was involved with the event until 2015, said the organisers had struggled with funding, resulting in the event not being held in 2016.
“There were struggles with funding and instances where sponsors would agree to help and then pull out at the last minute.
“The last time I was involved with the event was in 2015 but, by the time the awards returned in 2017, I was no longer involved,” Voyi said.
#041Events’ Luyanda Gqalane, who had no involvement with the Bay Area Music Awards, said the Nelson Mandela Bay Music Awards’ mission was to celebrate musicians in their home town before they were recognised outside it.
“It’s important that artists are recognised where they come from so that when or if there comes a time where their music reaches a wider audience or if they move to bigger cities, they leave having been celebrated at home,” he said.
The nomination lines opened in September and closed on October 25.
“We did activations along with some of our sponsors at Shoprite stores around Nelson Mandela Bay and marketed the event through radio KQFM and Nkqubela Community Radio and our Facebook page,” Gqalane said.
One artist from each of 14 categories will win an award.
Gqalane said they hoped to hold the event annually.
“Some of the potential sponsors we approached said they would see how this first event goes before getting on board,” he said.
Among the categories is the Nelson Mandela Bay Icon, in which Vusi Nova, Afrohouse duo Sdudla noMa1000 and house music duo Mr Luu and MSK are nominated.
“This nomination is such an honour for me, especially because it’s coming from PE,” Vusi Nova said.
He urged Port Elizabeth and the municipality to fully support such arts and entertainment events.
“These kinds of events contribute to uplifting our city, so the municipality needs to fully commit to and allocate a proper budget to make them a success,” he said.
For a full list of nominees and voting details, visit the NMBmas Facebook page.
Red carpet proceedings will start at 4pm and the programme at 5pm. General tickets are R120 and R200 for VIP. Further information from: 081-516-9729.