Sungura reign brought to an end

Dancehall superstar Winky D walked out with two crucial awards ahead of his sungura peers, who only managed to grab one each. Winky D successfully broke sunguras dominance in the history of the Nama awards after he shrugged off stiff competition from veteran musician Alick Macheso and Freddy Kapfupi Manjalima to scoop the Best Album of the Year and Peoples Choice award for the mix tape Igofigo.

Besides these accolades, the Kambuzuma-based musician also received the loudest cheers from the audience. No sungura video managed to contest in the Outstanding Music Video category, which went in favour of Woman of Rock by former Africa Revenge co-member Willis Wataffi. The fall of the genre came at a time when music analysts were criticizing sungura in particular and local music in general for slowly becoming monotonous.

They argued that local award institutions were killing the music industry by failing to identify other deserving genres and credit new blood giving preference to sungura and old horses, such as Macheso. Though Macheso was nominated in three categories of Outstanding Musician/Group, Song and Album – the odds were not on his side as he walked out empty handed after a humiliating loss at the hands of the new kids on the block Sulu, Kapfupi and Winky D respectively.

With such a humiliating defeat, Machesos reign as the King of Sungura hangs in the balance following his Nama drought. Eyes have been cast on his industry rival Tongai Dhewa Moyo, Sulu, who is sitting at the crest of his music career following the release of his latest offering Non-Stop, and Kapfupi, who quickly shot to fame with his hit song Mai Nga. Other notable achievers included Kubatana KweVatendi who scooped the Best Choral Group category. Albert Nyathi and Oliver Tuku Mtukudzi received the Art Personality of the Year and Lifetime Achievement Award respectively.