{"id":116321,"date":"2026-04-08T19:28:44","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T17:28:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/shekinah-gospel-awards-chart-new-path-for-divine-music"},"modified":"2026-04-08T21:50:31","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T19:50:31","slug":"shekinah-gospel-awards-chart-new-path-for-divine-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/shekinah-gospel-awards-chart-new-path-for-divine-music","title":{"rendered":"Shekinah Gospel Awards chart new path for divine music"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Zimbabwe. <\/strong><\/span>THE inaugural Shekinah Gospel Awards scheduled for later this year will redefine the purpose and trajectory of gospel music in the country, organizers have said.<\/p>\n<p>Running under the theme &#8220;Honouring Kingdom Excellence&#8221;, the awards ceremony is set to take place at the Harare International Conference Center (HICC) on December 12.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to guests during the official launch recently, the awards founder and chief executive officer MacDonald Chidavaenzi said the idea to honour the country&#8217;s best in gospel music came after realization that their efforts are often sidelined with their history left to fade.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I conducted a simple survey, asking current artists to name at least one song by Brian Sibalo (yesteryear gospel artiste) or the well-known yesteryear group Appointed. The results were alarming, over 80% could not.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This is a serious cause for concern. It reflects a lack of intentional culture in appreciating, celebrating, and honouring those who came before us,&#8221; the renowned music producer said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If we continue on this trajectory, 30 years from now, our children and their children may not know who Sekuru Minister Michael Mahendere or Ugogo Janet Manyowa is.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Chidavaenzi also said the findings prompted him and his team to establish &#8220;a vehicle that carries, propels, and fosters a culture of intentional celebration of where we come from, where we are, and where we are going as gospel creatives.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Delivering a keynote address on behalf of the minister of Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture, deputy minister Emily Jesaya said the awards would promote a healthy competition, fueling excellence as well as growth in the local creative sector.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Through platforms such as this, we are witnessing the formalization and elevation of gospel music into a structured, competitive, and economically viable sector.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;By promoting standards, rewarding excellence, and fostering consistency, the Shekinah Gospel Awards are contributing to the broader vision of building a vibrant and globally competitive creative industry in Zimbabwe,&#8221; said Jesaya.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, the Shekinah Gospel Awards organisers have pledged to build transparent, credible, and evidence-based adjudication systems to mainly eliminate cheating controversies that often characterise local awards.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;With the support of industry leaders, we are committed to upholding a standard of integrity that leaves no room for doubt,&#8221; said Chidavaenzi.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Zimbabwe<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Zimbabwe. THE inaugural Shekinah Gospel Awards scheduled for later this year will redefine the purpose and trajectory of gospel music in the country, organizers have said. Running under the theme &#8220;Honouring Kingdom Excellence&#8221;, the awards ceremony is set to take place at the Harare International Conference Center (HICC) on December 12. Speaking to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":116320,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[19],"class_list":["post-116321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","tag-zimbabwe"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Shekinah Gospel Awards chart new path for divine music - zimbabwe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"THE inaugural Shekinah Gospel Awards scheduled for later this year will redefine the purpose and trajectory of gospel mu ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/shekinah-gospel-awards-chart-new-path-for-divine-music\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Shekinah Gospel Awards chart new path for divine music\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"THE inaugural Shekinah Gospel Awards scheduled for later this year will redefine the purpose and trajectory of gospel mu ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/shekinah-gospel-awards-chart-new-path-for-divine-music\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"zimbabwe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-08T17:28:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-08T19:50:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2026\/04\/sm_1775677561.982448.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"540\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/shekinah-gospel-awards-chart-new-path-for-divine-music#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/shekinah-gospel-awards-chart-new-path-for-divine-music\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Shekinah Gospel Awards chart new path for divine music\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-08T17:28:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-08T19:50:31+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/shekinah-gospel-awards-chart-new-path-for-divine-music\"},\"wordCount\":384,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/shekinah-gospel-awards-chart-new-path-for-divine-music#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2026\/04\/sm_1775677561.982448.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Zimbabwe\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/shekinah-gospel-awards-chart-new-path-for-divine-music#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/shekinah-gospel-awards-chart-new-path-for-divine-music\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/shekinah-gospel-awards-chart-new-path-for-divine-music\",\"name\":\"Shekinah Gospel Awards chart new path for divine music - 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