NIGERIA LEADS WITH 18 NOMINATIONS FOR CHANNEL "O" 2011 MUSIC VIDEO AWARDS

It’s down to the wire for Africa’s hottest artists and music videos with the just-released list of nominees in the 2011 Channel O Music Video Awards driven by Hyundai!

This time around, the only original african awards feature multiple artists with two or more nods - making it an open field for nominees in the 14 categories as they make a bid for the votes of Channel O viewers throughout the continent!

This longstanding, public-voted awards event sees a massive 10 videos in contention for the hugely prestigious Most Gifted Video of the Year award – ensuring it’s a tough choice for fans.

One of the strongest bids must come from Ugandan artist, Navio whose “Keep Moving” is up for Most Gifted Video of the Year as well as Most Gifted Male Video and Most Gifted Hip Hop Video.

Also making a play for attention is hotshot South African artist Zakes Bantwini whose “Wasting My Time” clip has earned him a nod in the Most Gifted Video of the Year category as well as Most Gifted Male Video. The Durban-based artist is up against one of Africa’s undisputed heavyweights in both categories in the form of Nigeria’s D’Banj with his “Mr Endowed (Remix)’ featuring Snoop Dogg.

South African newcomer, AKA also has a strong showing in this year’s Channel O Music Video Awards: he’s up for Most Gifted Hip Hop Video, Most Gifted Video of the Year as well as Most Gifted Newcomer for his hit “Victory Lap”.

In the Most Gifted Newcomer category, AKA is vying for the title in a field that includes Nigeria’s Wizkid, Uganda’s Keko, Nigeria’s Ice Prince, Zambia’s Zone Fam and South Africa’s Kwesta in one of the most exciting categories at this year’s event. Most Gifted Hip Hop Video meanwhile has AKA toughing it out against Jesse Jagz featuring M.I. and Ice Prince (Nigeria), Proverb featuring Lungelo (South Africa), Navio (Uganda) and Collo (Kenya).  

 

In a music scene dominated by male artists, Lira (South Africa) and STL (Kenya) have made an impact over the past year – and it shows in their double nominations in the Most Gifted Video of the Year and Most Gifted Female Video categories. Lira is up for the video “Phakade” and STL’s “Lookie Lookie” has her in contention in both these categories, as well as Most Gifted Dance Video.

Also making a splash over the past year on Channel O is Samklef’s “Molowo Noni” featuring Wizkid, D’Prince and Ice Prince. The video from the Nigerian and his collaborators is in the running for Most Gifted Video of the Year.

Samklef’s “Molowo Noni” has also earned a nomination in the Most Gifted Duo, Group or Featuring Video category. Other videos vying for this hotly contested category are Jozi’s “Electric Avenue” (SA), Angolan Paul G featuring Akon’s “Bang It”, Tanzania’s AY featuring Ms Triniti’s “Good Look”, Slikour (SA) featuring various artists’ “Dubula (Remix)” and HHP, Teargas and Liquideep’s “Born For This” (SA).

Popular South African duo, Liquideep show up again with two nominations of their own: Most Gifted Video of the Year and Most Gifted African Southern Video – both for the track “Settle For Less”. Most Gifted African Southern Video sees Liquideep running against Cabo Snoop (Angola), Khuli Chana featuring JR (South Africa), C.R.I.S.I.S. (Zambia), and L-Tido featuring K.O. (South Africa).

Most Gifted African West Video is another category pitting Africa’s big name stars against each other for the votes of fans. Up for this award are Naeto C (Nigeria), Flavour (Nigeria), D-Black featuring Dr Cryme (Ghana), 2 Face (Nigeria) and Asa (Nigeria). 

Rounding off the regional categories is Most Gifted African East Video which sees P-Unit/Mimmo (Kenya), Jaguar (Kenya), Ay featuring Ms Triniti, Keko, Radio and Weseal (Uganda) and CPWAA (Tanzania) in the running.

This year’s Channel O Music Video Awards nominees list gives excellent insight into the growth, diversity and world-class talent currently making a mark on the African music scene.

Whether it’s well established artists like Nigeria’s 2Face (up for Most Gifted Video of the Year and Most Gifted African West Video for “Only Me”) and Mozambique’s Lizha James (Most Gifted Female Video and Most Gifted Dance Video for “Gotta Move On”), or those flying the flag for Most Gifted Ragga Dancehall (Samini; Wyre/Cecile; Black Dillinger; Nazizi), there’s something for all music fans to get passionate about and vote.

One of the most controversial categories at the Channel O Music Video Awards has always been Most Gifted Kwaito with South African artists sometimes having to take a back seat to artists from other countries – including in 2009 when Namibia’s Gazza took the crown. This year the competition is tough with Brickz (SA); The Dogg (Namibia); Howza (SA); and Professor featuring Speedy (SA) all in the running.

Another closely watched category is Most Gifted Afro Pop Video which has Theo (SA) up against J-Martins featuring Fally Ipupa (Nigeria/Congo) Shaa (Tanzania) Jaziel Brothers (SA) and Flavour (Nigeria). The competition is as strong in the Most Gifted R&B Video category where Jamali (SA), G2 featuring Trez Agah (Mozambique), Loyiso featuring Kuli Chana (SA), Banky W featuring M.I. (Nigeria) and Leanne (SA) are all eyeing the prize.

Voting for the 2011 Channel O Music Video Awards opens Friday 19 August and closes midnight Thursday 27 October 2011. Visit www.channelo.tv to cast your votes via web or WAP. You can also vote on MXit and SMS (send your favourite artist’s code to 083 920 8406, or +27 83 920 8406 if you’re outside of South Africa). You can vote in all 14 categories as many times as you want, but only ONCE per hour.


The 2011 Channel O Music Video Awards are driven by Hyundai – New Thinking, New Possibilities!