The nominees for the African Entertainment Awards, USA (AEAUSA) were recently announced with three of our own artistes, Jah Prayzah, Sha Sha and Winky D making it to the list.
They were nominated for the Entertainer of the Year, Best Female Artist – East/South/North Africa and Best Dancehall Artiste categories respectively.
While music lovers in other countries are celebrating that their entertainers have been nominated, the same cannot be said for Zimbabwe.
Social media has been awash with a significant number of individuals highlighting that they will not be voting for Jah Prayzah but rather for Nigerian superstar Burnaboy who is also one of nominees in the Entertainer of the Year category.
The situation has even put a shadow on the other two nominees who are also counting on local votes to boost their chances of winning.
Remind me of JP’s crime again. Oh, yes, they say he is an enemy because he refused to support the ZimbabweanLivesMatter hashtag.
Last I checked, this guy was just an entertainer and not an activist so basically political or civil involvement of any form should be by choice on his part.
I feel like it is unfair for people, especially political activists to try and force artistes to issue out political statements or support causes that they are not directly involved with.
One of the reasons why some people say they are voting for Burna Boy is that he was one of the international stars who added their voices to the ZimbabweanLivesMatter hashtag.
What baffles me is the fact that in his own county, the ‘Africa Giant’ is being blasted for showing no concern for the attack on the youth by SARS officials.
While many other celebrities including Runtown, Falz, Wizkid, Davido, Olamide, and many Nollywood actors have shown their support for the protest to end SARS, Burna Boy has maintained his silence on the situation.
My own theory is that he does not want to get entangled in the politics of his land and the ramifications that might follow. I mean, it’s easier to challenge policies in other countries rather than those in your own backyard, especially in Africa where your actions can easily come back to bite you.
I believe the situation Burna Boy is in right now is the same one Jah Prayzah and many other artistes based in the country were in back then. I am sure JP can Tweet “#EndSARS Yoo I’m reading some wild sh**. My people What’s REALLY happening over there in Nigeria?”, and he will not have to be concerned about any serious ramifications.
If I was a musician, I would concentrate on entertaining my fans and let politicians and activists handle their own hustle (I will only get involved if they pay me to come and perform at their events).
As a matter of fact, we have artistes who thrive on releasing political music and these are the ones who should be roped in for such because they are already willing.
Instead of wasting energy on attacking artistes who do not want to be part of a certain cause, let them be and channel that energy in taking the people and institutions you are up against head-on.
This is just my opinion and I hope you don’t take it the wrong way.
Going back to the AEAUSA debacle, I believe the nomination of our artistes on its own is a big plus for our arts industry as a whole.
It shows the world that we have talent and these are some of the things that drive people from other countries to pay more attention to our music.
I remember back in the day when we used to only have one artiste being nominated for such but now we are being represented by three which is something that I think should be celebrated.
While I don’t want to tell anyone who they should vote for, I think it would be great if at least one or all of our local musicians get to win. It will be our national flag shining at the end of the day.
If I am voting for Burna Boy, it should be because he is my favorite artiste on the list, not because I want to see one of my own fail as payback for a past event.
Our artistes are up against some of the biggest stars on the continent and realistically speaking, we are out of our depth here (except for Sha Sha of cause), but we can play our part and give them a fighting chance.
