The inaugural Malawi Hip Hop Awards (MHHA) took place on December 13. Our reporter YVONNIE SUNDU spoke to awards’ manager Nthangwanika Kondowe on the future of the awards and more.
Q
: The awards are now over. What is your overall assessment of the awards’ organisation and presentation?
A
: I think the awards’ organisation and presentation was good for a start. There are many areas that we need to improve on, but that’s the best thing about experiences, both positive and negative, you learn from them and you do better next time.
Q
: What lessons are you carrying to 2021?
A
: The most valuable lesson is time. Keeping track of it, staying on schedule and making great use of it. We were under a lot of pressure to complete the awards because we started a lot of things late and didn’t stick to our schedules. I’m hoping next year’s awards have at least a six-month plan in place.
Q
: Many fans complained of failing to watch the awards via the live stream on Facebook. Another aspect of the awards that attracted comments was the sound quality where, for some recipients or performers it was good while for others, it was bad. What happened?
A
: The sound quality was also a problem due to the broadcaster. We have put the awards show up on YouTube and I hope people will find the time to re-watch the show so they can fully enjoy what we created.
Q
: As organisers, you repeatedly said the nomination plus overall vote had the input of other players in the music industry. Who are these players?
A
: We had input from Cosoma for radio play and television airtime data, Mikozi, Zonse Live and Malawi Music sites for charts plus downloads data, New Wave Malawi for streaming data, YouTube views, project/Merch sales, views from industry commentators, social media chatter/popularity, replay value and features/performance requests.
This was the main criteria for the nominations.
Q
: When is the prize presentation going to take place?
A
: Unfortunately because of the festive season, most of the artists are booked and busy. We have been trying to organise a small event for them, but it has not proven successful yet. The plan is to just deliver the trophies and money personally to the winners and have them post about it as confirmation.
Q
: There was a promise of publicly publishing the MHHA results. When are you doing this?
A
: For me intention means everything, I would like to properly consider the situation fully before signing off on releasing the results and how best to go about it as this will set a tone for how we run future award shows to come.
Q
: How soon should fans expect to see the next edition of the Malawi Hip Hop Awards?
A
: In about 11 to 12 months from now. We will give artists time to give us a hard time deciding on next year’s nominees, but the fans shouldn’t worry about content. I have got that handled for them. I would like to thank Gwamba, all the presenters, performers, my directors and graphics team for their incredible contribution to this award show. If you failed to catch the show, you can find it on YouTube by simply searching Malawi Hip-Hop Awards 2020.
