Kisima woes
Kisima woes
The much-awaited KISIMA awards ceremony was to start at 6:30 pm last Saturday according to posters and face book postings it began a cool 4 hours later!
The opening act Machizi was like watching Mr. Nice, Usher, 3:16 coming out of the same person, at the same time, all done shirtless.
He told us later: “I have never felt so humiliated in my life”, he fumed. According to him, he was shocked to find out that the DJ was using a DVD player to change track.
In a word, it was shambolic. Not only were many nominated artists even unaware of the awards, the few that were, did not bother to turn up.
Still, let’s leave the chaos of the actual event behind and consider appreciating the artists who have so distinguished themselves in a healthy and growing local music industry.
Of special interest is the continued emergence of Gospel acts picking up awards in general categories (Of the 8 multiple award winners, only 3 had no Gospel affiliations).
Marion Shako was arguably the biggest of them, not just picking up the Gospel Female Award, but also beating the likes of Lady Jaydee and Nyota Ndogo to pick up the regional Female Artist of the Year (East Africa) Award.
Worth noting is that Gospel affiliates swept the Urban Fusion awards. Chizi eclipsed names such as Eric Wainaina and Kanjii to receive two well deserved awards Songwriter of the Year and Urban Fusion Male Artist, whilst Kambua (Urban Fusion Female), Mbuvi (Ethnic Fusion Artist) and former Votaries’ members Pentamony (Urban Fusion Group) completed the sweep.
Gospel winners also picking up nods in non-Gospel categories included Wakenya Pamoja (Ensemble, Social Responsibility), as well as MOG (Ragga Artist – as well as Gospel Group).
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Jessica Simpson meets Ugandan mosquitoes!
The 29-year-old pop singer got more than she bargained for last week when she traveled to Uganda to meet subjects for her upcoming VHI series “The Price of Beauty.”
Mosquitoes and spiders had a blast last week enjoying American singer Jessica Simpson while she was filming her new reality show. The singer was in Uganda for a six days shoot but spent all her time in a tent.
And she complained of mosquito and spider bites while shooting the show even skipping Mumbai where she was supposed to complete her other part of the reality show shoot flying back home instead!
On Sept. 23 she posted a pouty, doe-eyed picture of herself underneath a mosquito net on her Twitter page, writing, “WTF?!? Do I really have to sleep like this?” and later “Bedtime in the tent is questionable.”
Of course, her nighttime fears weren’t completely unfounded. Her travel partner Ken Paves managed to snap a pic of a nearby spider and messaged Simpson, “Is this the Price of Beauty? Don’t let the bed bugs bite!”
