Gwamba, Tay Grin tie with 4 UMP Awards nominations
Hundreds of urban music lovers flocked to Amazon Club in the capital Lilongwe to witness the unveiling of UMP Awards nominations which took place on Saturday night, 8 October.
This year, the highly anticipated locally produced UMP Awards will see Hip Hop heavyweights Gwamba and Tay Grin going head to head as they have bagged four nominations each.
Despite getting nominations in other different categories, the two rappers are battling it out in the “Best Song of the year” category where Gwamba’s “Better” is up against Tay Grin’s “Chipapapa”.
They will also trade jabs in “Artist of the year” and “Best Hip Hop artist” categories.
Newcomers JJC, Purple C and Ril B have three nominations each while the critically acclaimed female artist of the moment Zani challe got two nominations.
Singer Theo Thomson bagged three nominations whereas veteran rapper Phyzix has bounced back with a bang having being nominated for “Best Hip Hop artist” and “Album of the year” for “Captain Long John”.
The nominations voting commenced on Monday 19 September 2016 and concluded on Monday 3 October 2016, with the objective of selecting five nominees per category.
Producers then later included the Best Female Act, which makes the number of categories in the 2016 UMP Awards rise to 12 from the initial 11.
The public sent SMS texts to designated numbers on Airtel and TNM mobile networks (0994299099 and 0880549556): 1 SMS / 1 Category Vote. The judges and the public votes were weighed and they contributed 50:50 of the final selection.
UMP has lined up a few side events including the just ended UMP Awards Nomination Party, a DJ showdown slated for Friday, 4th November, UMP Fashion Night and Media Awards at Game Underground Car Park and the icing on the cake which is the UMP Awards on Sunday, 6th November at the BAT Ground.
Below is the complete list of nominees:
| Best New artist |
| Charisma |
| JJC |
| Kelvin Sings |
| Purple C
Ril B |
| Best Dancehall Artist |
| JJC |
| King Chambiecco |
| Malinga Mafia |
| Purple C
Saint |
| Best Afropop /RnB Artist |
| Blaze |
| Bucci |
| Dan Lu |
| Kell kay
Theo Thomson |
| Best Hiphop Artist |
| Fredokiss |
| Gwamba |
| Martse |
| Physix
Tay Grin |
| Best Gospel artist |
| Faith Mussa |
| Gwamba |
| KBG |
| Patience Namadingo
Suffix |
| Video of the Year |
| Chipapapa- Tay Grin featuring 2baba |
| Levels remix- Malinga featuring Various artists |
| Single tonight- Zani Challe featuring Patoranking |
| Sweet Banana- Dan Lu
The other side – Tsar Leo |
| Best Video director |
| Ben bei |
| Essim |
| Ron Cz |
| Sukez
VJ Ice |
| Producer of the year |
| BFB |
| DJ Sley |
| Gaffar |
| Sispence
Tricky Beats |
| Artist of the Year |
| Blaze |
| Gwamba |
| Malinga Mafia |
| Tay Grin
Theo Thomson |
| Song of the Year |
| Better- Gwamba featuring Emm Q and Tammy |
| Chipapapa- Tay Grin featuring 2baba |
| Levels Remix- Malinga Mafia featuring Various Artists |
| Mwini Zinthu- Ril B and Blaze
Wadutsa Pompa – W twice featuring Nepman |
| Album of the Year |
| Acoustic Heart- Saint |
| Captain Long John- Physix |
| Flawless Heart- Malinga Mafia |
| White elephant- Theo Thomson
Worth the Wait – Bucci |
| Best Female artist |
| Aycee James |
| Beanca |
| Rina |
| Sangie |
| Zani Challe |
zopanda mchere
let the best win….very difficult to decide who the winner wil be,,,,,all the best guys….