Lilongwe to host 2017 Malawi Urban Music Party Awards
Urban Music Party (UMP) Festival organizers have announced that the UMP Awards will this year be held as a stand-alone event, revealing that the event will for the first time be held in the capital city, Lilongwe.
Since inception, the UMP Awards have been held in Blantyre as part of the celebrated urban music gathering, UMP festival- The premier gathering of Malawi’s urban artists and fans.
This year, however, the organizing team led by the event’s producers Nde’feyo Entertainment has decided to unbundle the awards from the main festival to be a stand-alone event.
According to the organizers, this follows the tremendous growth and support the awards have achieved in the past two years.
“UMP Awards celebrate and promote excellence in Malawi’s urban music industry; it is therefore our goal to have it as a stand-alone event. We feel the UMP Awards have grown with new categories being added each year. And this year it will be a glamorous and a must-attend red carpet event,” disclosed Ken Zizwa Limwame, one of the event executive producers.
He added: “We are grateful of the support rendered thus far. The public’s support has been firm through the years and this has made us to reconsider the future direction of the awards with consideration of its quality and authenticity.”
Following the change, the awards will be held as an Evening Red Carpet event in between November and December- Date and Venue to be confirmed- with additional four extra categories of Best Live Act; Best Duo/Group; Best Collaboration and Best SADC Act to the previous 13, making it 17 categories in total.
The maintained 13 old categories are: Best Rap/Hip-Hop Act, Best Reggae/Dance-hall Act, Best R&B/Afro-Pop Act, Best Gospel Act, Best Female Act, Best New Artist, Song of the Year, Album of the Year, Music Video of the Year, Video Director of the Year, Producer of the Year, Artist of the Year and Lifetime Achievement.
The awards are organized and were founded by Ndefeyo Entertainment who, each year, assembles an organizing team. The awards involve independent judges and the public in the selection of winners.
Last year’s UMP festival was held at the BAT Ground in the commercial city of Blantyre on November 6th in an event headlined by Gemini Major and Pop Dogg, based in South Africa and Ireland, respectively. It was preceded by fashion design gala and the awards as well as a series of parties.
UMP Festival is a celebration of Malawi’s urban music, lifestyle and culture. The UMP Awards is a ceremony that recognizes Malawi’s exceptional urban music talent.
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