Angry And Qounfuzed: Nomore Awards For Zimdancehall Artist
Zimdancehall sensation Qounfuzed is literarily confused as to why he never got a chance at being selected for the prestigious National Arts Merit Awards(NAMA) after all the ‘great work’ he put in for the past year.
The ‘Kamunamato Kekubhawa’ singer has, altogether, decided not to be part of any future Zimbabwean awards ceremonies.
The National Arts Council of Zimbabwe made public the nominees for the 21st edition of the National Arts Merit Awards (NAMA) for the creative works created from 1 December 2021 to 30 November 2022, earGROUND reported.
The annual event takes place at the Harare International Conference Centre (HICC), Rainbow Towers Hotel, in Harare this Saturday, 25 February 2023.
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After his song, Kamunamato Kekubhawa dominated the charts across all urban radio stations and blazed clubs, kombis and local boutiques in most towns; Quonfuzed failed to garner a single nomination when the NAMA committee announced the list.
On 7 February, the singer groaned on Facebook: “NAMA ine Drama…”
Qounfuzed’s fans flooded his Facebook comments and assured him that he owned 2022 with hits like Shisha and Nzeve and that he does not need validation from awards.
After much thought, Qounfuzed has decided to quit all Zimbabwean awards altogether.
“To People that are saying we did not submit to NAMA, we submitted in October 2022, and they received and confirmed. We are not sure what criteria is (sic) used with all Zimbabwe Awards, but we will not submit any more of our works to any Award shows.
“To all our loyal fans, we just wanna say do not be moved by these award shows issues. They come and go. Throughout the years, we have been pushing music and topping charts but have not been acknowledged or recognised by any of our local dominant or prominent Zim awards organisers except for the Zimdancehall awards but that won’t stop us from delivering good music to you, and we will continue to do so with or without any award nominations. Musaore moyo chipo ndechaMwari hapana anotomisa.”
Artists like Killer T have criticised the NAMA for their questionable nominees and winner selection processes. Lately, some sections of social media have been alleging that Winky D was deliberately omitted from the People’s Choice Award this year, despite winning it consecutively in the last couple of years.
In 2022, Jah Prayzah announced that he would no longer submit entries for any Zimbabwean awards.
Speaking on Zimpapers Television Network (ZTN) earlier this month, NAMA executive director Napoleon Nyanhi responded to bias and corruption allegations:
“To kick off that conversation, I think we need to acknowledge that award shows, worldover, always cause controversy and division of opinion because art in itself is an emotive issue. Everyone is emotional about it, from the artistes themselves to the fans, so when you come to the nominee’s announcement, you just have to know that there will be issues.”
