Africa-Press – Eswatini. KHANYISILE Myeni is leading in the Eswatini Gospel Music Awards 2022 in as far as votes are concerned.
Over the past five days, Khanyisile has received the most votes with 831 under the category of Best Traditional Gospel Song with the hit track, ‘Amazulu’.
This was confirmed by the awards PRO Mnqobi Tsabedze.
Khanyisile is the former member of Ncandweni Christ Ambassadors and wife to Mzwakhe Myeni.
Another artist who amassed a high number of votes in the past five days is Bongekile for her track ‘Uthando’, which was nominated under the Best Contemporary Gospel Song.
She received 196 votes followed by Portia Praise with 115 under Best Traditional Gospel Song for her track ‘Ukhona Nkulunkulu’.
Prophetic Voices, featuring Frans Mkhaliphi and Fakazi Samuel completed the top five.
“Artists who did not receive any votes over the five days included Nothando Dlamini in Best Traditional Song, Ntenteza Nemakhalanga in Best Gospel Artist/Group, Khuzizono and Manzini Crusade both in Gospel Artist/Group of All Times,” Tsabedze said .
Christ Heralds lead the Gospel Artist/Group of All Times with 17 votes, while Bongekile tops the Best Contemporary Gospel Song categories.
Pastor Scara Maziya is at the top of Best Artist/Group with 33 votes while Neliswa Dlamini leads the Gospel Song of the Year category with 27 votes.
The Eswatini Gospel Music Awards amassed 2 094 votes within five days of opening the voting lines.
Voting lines were opened last week Monday and five categories were announced with a minimum of four nominees per category.
Only five out of 15 categories in this year’s awards will be judged through a public vote, while seven will be adjudicated by a panel and three will be honorary.
Influence
Tsabedze has encouraged artists and all gospel music lovers to vote in order to influence the results at the gala night slated for December 3.
“We are grateful to all artists and their supporters for the votes and the continued support. The numbers show that artists and their supporters cannot wait for the last day, and they want to set the pace as early as possible. We want to appreciate the support and love shown so far. We have a lot of surprises and we are yet to unpack an interesting production plan which music lovers cannot afford to miss,” he said.
Tsabedze stated that they would be unveiling the ticketing plan for the event next week.
The awards will be held at Mavuso Trade Centre. Gospel artist Mayibongwe Mthimkhulu won a luxurious Jaguar sedan in the inaugural event of the Eswatini Gospel Music Awards in 2014 for amassing the most votes. She was presented with her first car at an elegant red carpet event held at the Royal Swazi Sun Convention Centre in an event attended by the late former prime minister (PM) Dr. Sibusiso Dlamini.
The awards grew over the years under the patronage of Inkhosikati LaMbikiza and the guidance of the Association of Christian Artists in Eswatini (ACAESWA).
This year the event continued to be the most sponsored awards event and the only one focused on music following the cancellation of the MTN SWAMA Awards.
Presented
The last gospel music awards were held in 2020 at Woodlands Hall, and were presented under a black carpet theme attended by One Gospel Television station.
It was announced that the awards will this year advocate for the end of femicide and gender based violences. Companies such as Eswatini Mobile, Instacash, Mitra Energy Eswatini, Status Capital and Eswatini Investment Promotion Authority (EIPA) have sponsored this year’s event.
Eswatini Action Group Against Abuse (ESWAGAA) is one of the main partners, as the awards will be held during the 16 Days Activism Against Gender Based Violence campaign, which begins on November 25 and ends on December 11.
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