Singer Ammara Brown has blasted the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe organised National Arts and Merit Awards (NAMA) saying the awards are not based on facts.
Ammara Brown joins a nationwide outcry about Saturday’s ceremony which some have described as a “fraud and national embarrassment.”
Embarrassing they were when the adjudicators awarded the song of the year to Jah Prayzah’s Ndini Ndamubata ahead of a year’s hit Pamamonya Ipapo by Soul Jah Love.
In fact, some circles think there is a deliberate ploy to not recognise Zimdancehall after another dancehall singer Killer T was also clearly robbed in 2015 – 2016 album of the year category with his album Ngoma Ndaimba.
The Akiliz hitmaker decided to address ‘the elephant in the room’ by taking to Instagram. She wrote:
“I’m gonna address the elephant in the room. Yes I am hearing your cries. Many of you feel I was “robbed” of awards, but let’s take a moment. The NAMAs are not based on facts, they are based on opinions.
“A panel of anonymous judges, observe your work and battle it out among themselves. My numbers don’t lie. Ammartia you are the biggest Zimbabwean fan base under any female by faaaarrr. My debut album reached Number 2 on iTunes Charts in its first week.
Ammara lost the best female artist to equally hardworking gospel singer Janet Manyowa, her song Akiliz also lost out to Jah Prayzah’s Ndini Ndamubata, leaving the songstress empty-handed.
She added: “While Akiliz has climbed Trace Africa Charts, it hit half a million views in 6 weeks. Don’t get me started on all the tours I did and to top it off YOUR VOTES made it Song of The Year for 2017 on the Star FM Charts .. But! These are facts. The NAMAs aren’t based on facts, they’re based on opinions. I understand your frustrations but, they’ve reiterated continuously that it is not a popularity contest.
“People’s choice is the only category the public can vote for. In fact, I was grateful there was a winner because some categories weren’t even afforded, she said.
The NAMAs also hit another record low when they decided not to award anyone in LITERARY AWARDS Category, arguing that of all the nominees, Outstanding First Creative Work and Outstanding Children’s Book none were good enough.
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