Friday, July 24, 2015
Award winner : Diamond and his Manager Babu Tale immediately after he had received the gong on Saturday night.
The build up to the MTV Africa Music Awards was a
tense affair as the stars congregated at the Durban Convention Centre,
South Africa.
Saluting and championing African music,
youth culture and achievement, the Mamas brought together a massive
celebration contemporary music and creativity, including electrifying
performances, collaborations and awards presentations.
Walking
the red carpet at the awards were nominees Bonang Matheba, HHP,
Chameleone, Dreamteam, HHP, Riky Rick, Samini, OC Ukeje, Bebe Cool,
Mpumi, Jovi, Uhuru and Vanessa Mdee.
Other famous faces
included comedian Trevor Gumbi, Nigerian OAP Toolz, MTV Shuga star and
Mr Nigeria Emmanuel Ikbese, BET “Top Actor” winner Altovise Lawrence,
Miss South Africa Liesl Laurie, Boity and Khuli Chana.
Also
on the line up were Joselyn Dumas, Jessica Nkosi, actress Zikhona
Sodlaka, and MTV Base VJs Sizwe, Nomuzi, Ehiz and Sandile.
Hosted
by actor Anthony Anderson with slightly over 5000 fans in the audience
the event coincided with the nationwide celebration of the late Nelson
Mandela’s birthday, a fact that was touched on by artists in the show.
There
were some first timers as well as the perennial nominees at the Pan
African event that brings African musicians and those in the Diaspora
together.
Tanzania and Bongo Flava’s history at these
awards has not been a rosy one as artistes settled for the also runs
category, those who had made it in the last four editions ended up as
mere nominees.
From Nakaaya, Prof Jay, Shaa to AY it has always ended in disappointment as the awards went either to West or South Africa.
The
latest to carry the burden were Diamond and Vanessa Mdee and the
question that everyone wanted a quick answer for was whether these two
would finally end the country’s wait.
And the wait was
finally over and it had to be in South Africa where Diamond has in
recent year shot many of his other award winning videos.
Over with the first award of the night as Diamond clinched the Best Live Act category after three other attempts.
Ironically
the presentation was done by none other than fellow nominee Vanessa
Mdee who said and it goes to… ‘my brother from another mother.’
From
the first stint in Lagos as a little know artiste with hit single
‘Mbagala’, to another try in Durban in 2014 with ‘Number One,’ it was
like it was written in the stars, the pieces had all fallen into place.
On
that Saturday night, as Diamond and Babu Tale went to pick up the gong,
the giant jigsaw puzzle had been sorted for the artiste and his legion
of fans in Tanzania.
“It is finally coming home,” an excited Diamond announced in his acceptance speech.
Diamond
had become the first Tanzania artiste to win the coveted MTV Africa
Music awards, a feat that had eluded his predecessors and himself.
The
images of Diamond dancing and ecstatically addressing the continent was
a far cry from what he was in 2010 after he lost his category of New
Act to Nigeria’s Mo Cheedah.
He remembers his journey on his first stint at the MTV awards with nostalgia; it was a long and lonely ride back home.
There
were no fans at the airport shouting his name then, save for the Team
Tanzania that had made the journey but that has all changed in the last
five years.
His reception at the Julius Nyerere
International Airport was a once in a life time affair as hundreds of
youth sang his name at the arrivals.
As usual trouble
was brewing on the social media as his former flame Jokate took a video
post by the Nana singer a bit too personal.
Though Diamond came out the following day after his arrival to defend his actions, the designer cum musician thought otherwise.
To
prove that he was the Best Live act on the continent Diamond put up a
performance that host Anderson described as the MJ of Africa.
His
Nana performance alongside Nigeria’s Mr Flavour was mouthwatering as
the audience danced along to the ‘Sankoro’ dance routine.
Stunning
collaborations between artists of different genres saw Ne-Yo take to
the stage with Seyi Shay, 2Face collaborating with Bucie, Sauti Sol
pairing up with Yemi Alade and so did Patoranking swap beats with KO.
On
his return he was into an elated mood throughout the week as he thanked
his fans locally and across the continent for voting for him.
“I
don’t think this credit belongs to me alone, in my view it is more
about the fans the media and more so the team that I work with,” he told
a news gathering in Dar es Salaam.
And it seems there
is more to come as he is set to tour four African countries in the next
five months where he will have massive shows.
“Arrangements have been made for me to perform in Zambia, DRC, Rwanda and Zimbabwe,” he says.
According to the Ntampata Wapi singer, other regions in Africa and beyond have started taking notice of what we do musically.
“Ours
could be a toddler in the industry but in recent years people have
started to develop interest in whatever we so here. For example there
was this rumour that I had stopped doing collabos with Nigerians. When I
got to Lagos it was one of the most asked questions,” he says.
He
believes that there is enough quality in Bongo Flava to enable it go
places though issues of budget, language barriers stand as an impediment
in one way or another.
He speaks with confidence about
the much talked about collabo with American singer Ne-Yo. “Everything
is still in the planning stage but even then there is some good news in
the making,” he says.
On the issue of his relationship
with Ali Kiba, Diamond insists he doesn’t have any problem with the
Mwana singer, a rift that he believes was manufactured by some media
outlets.
“The problem of having just one artist
representing at international level is that what if I die then it means
our music collapses like what happened the film industry after Kanumba,”
he concludes.
The singer is set to attend the Achivers’ Award gala tomorrow where has also been nominated.
Additional reporting by Esther Kibakaya
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