The Namibian Annual Music Awards Vetting Committee have added two more nominees to the Artist of the Decade category. The two nominees are Oteya and Mushe bringing the total and final nominees in that category to 7. NAMA Executive Chairperson, Tim Ekandjo explained that the decision was made after the Vetting Committee realized that a solo artist who was previously part of a group and won awards as part of the group deserves credit for such awards even when they are now a solo artist.
“We received a query in this regard and consulted internationally for guidance and the advice was that all awards whether won in the name of the group or solo artist should be credited to the person’s name and thus the additions. The rule is consistent with what happens at the Grammy where Beyonce’s total awards won over the years includes that which she won under Destiny’s Child for instance. We would like to thank the Vetting Committee for their diligence and professionalism in this regard,” said Ekandjo.
Oteya and Mushe now joins King Tee Dee, Lize-Ehlers, Exit, Gazza and Blossom. The Artist of the Decade is given to the artist who won the most NAMA awards over the last 10 years collectively. Another change made is with the nominees in the Song of the Year category. “We also picked up that Tswazi’s song of the year nomination does not qualify because of the release date of the song and we would like to applaud Tswazi’s and their management for helping us pick that up.
This is by no means the fault of the Vetting Committee because the Song of the Year nominations are received directly from the radio stations. Tswazi’s nomination has therefore been replaced by the next qualifying song in line which is the song ‘Namibian Queen’ by Y Cliff. The Namibian Annual Music Awards which was scheduled to take place on the 2nd May has now indefinitely been postponed due to the extension of the lockdown. A new date will be announced in due course.
