Sunday, July 19, 2015

The 2015 MTV Africa Music Awards on MTV Base less about surprises as Nigeria's P-Square honoured as Africa's Artist of the Decade.


The 2015 MTV Africa Music Awards on Saturday night on MTV Base (DStv 322) and broadcast live across the African continent on Viacom International Media Networks' channels was this year less about surprises and novelty and more about consolidation, settling down and entrenchment of the brand and logistics of this African awards show as a brand. 

The 2015 MAMAs was held for the second consecutive time in Durban since the revival last year of the pan-African music awards show, and Viacom International Media Networks Africa (VIMN Africa) took a lot of the playbook from 2014 - from planning to execution - redoing what worked, with tweaks here and there.

The 2015 MAMAs was held again at Durban's International Convention Centre, this year with American comedian Anthony Anderson as host, and adding some new categories.

The big winners was the Nigerian stars Davido and Yemi Alade who won in the Best Male and Best Female categories while Nigeria's P-Square won as Best Group and was awarded the Artist of the Decade award.

D'Banji won the MAMA Evolution award, a new category that's been introduced to recognise an artists who've made an indelible mark on African and global music culture; while the South African comedian Trevor Noah set to take over as host of The Daily Show on Comedy Central (DStv 122) from 28 September won in the category for Personality of the Year to loud applause.

"I want to thank my two Ethiopian fans," said Trevor Noah in a funny pre-taped acceptance speech message.

"Africa is a continent of the now and the future; tonight was testament to that," said Alex Okosi, the senior vice president and managing director of VIMN Africa.

"The 2015 MAMAs represented and reflected the abundant amount of creativity and passion this continent breeds."

The 2015 MAMAs winners:

Best Female: Yemi Alade (Nigeria)
Best Male: Davido (Nigeria)
Best Group: P-Square (Nigeria)
Best New Act: Patoranking (Nigeria)
Best Hip Hop:  Cassper Nyovest (South Africa)
Best Collaboration: AKA, Burna Boy, Da LES & JR: "All Eyes On Me" (SA/Nigeria)
Song of the Year: Mavins: "Dorobucci" (Nigeria)
Best Live: Diamond Platnumz (Tanzania)
Video of the Year:  "Nafukwa" – Riky Rick; Director: Adriaan Louw
Best Pop & Alternative: Jeremy Loops (South Africa)
Best Francophone: DJ Arafat (Ivory Coast)
Best Lusophone: Ary (Angola)
Personality of the Year:  Trevor Noah (South Africa)
MAMA Evolution: D'Banj (Nigeria)
Best International: Nicki Minaj
Artist of the Decade: P-Square

MTV Base Leadership Award: Saran Kaba Jones & S'Bu Mavundla