We survived MAM Awards
Jah people, greetings from my sickbed. But mine is the pain hardly emanating from this little trouble.
Rather, it is a bitter hangover of how Music Association of Malawi (MAM) awards on Friday defiled standards.
No congratulations for recipients of the handouts, the trophies of mediocrity.
Where quality outweighs quantity and speed, the biggest irregularity of that night was not the no-show of President Joyce Banda who was advertised to grace the event.
Remember, this was a night of errors a celebrity director of ceremonies who needed more rehearsals and scripting than slang lied that gospel music picked up after Pope John Paul II’s visit in 1998. (Correction: The good peace-loving Paul’s historic visit came in 1989 when our own Sir Paul Banda released the theme song Tiwalandire Apapa Ndi Chimwemwe.
But this boob was no felony on the night one Tiwonge Hango emerged the best upcoming artist despite leading Tikhu Vibration to victory in the multinational Music Crossroads Competition back in 2006.
Imagining that Tiwonge has been upcoming for nearly a decade was no crime too—for even Allan Chirwa, whom he gazumped to win the gong, has been nominated for the newcomers affair since Gospel Music Awards first flop in 2010.
And MAMs were glamorous awards with a tie in the reggae dancehall category won by Sally Nyundo, something that could have been ironed out silently if organisers’ heads had standard brains.
But these were the brains behind the night of terrible surprises. MAM recognised 10 lifetime achievers, with no deserving soul left for future awards. For those looking for confirmation that the so-called awards ended the night they began, this is it. It looks unlikely they will be back next year—for all the good and the bad got an award at this once.
Yet the madness at the red-carpet political rally was just symptomatic of ineptitude in the association charged with safeguarding standards in the music industry. They are high on politics, mediocrity.
Even the stars up there were worried and deeply ashamed, the stars that descended on the social media to express their displeasure.
