A night of the stars at Super Dome Masaki

From electrifying performances to powerful acceptance speeches, the Tanzania Music Awards (TMA) 2024, held last Saturday at Super Dome Masaki in Dar-es-Salaam, did to some level live up to its hype.

Bongo Flava singer Omary Ally Mwanga, alias Marioo, was crowned the best singer and songwriter of the year.

Diamond Platnumz, who snubbed the last two editions over claims of favouritism, returned that night to walk away with five trophies that included Best Male Artist, Best Dance Music Song, and Best Male Performer of the Year.

For his song "Mahaba," Ali Akiba clinched the Best Bongo Flava Song and Best Male Bongo flava singer of the year.

Zuchu who delivered a terrific performance to the mammoth crowd was Best Female Bongo Flava Singer of the Year while Nandy The African Princess was crowned Best Female Artist of The Year.

Nigeria Afrobeats singer Asake was the only foreign artist to be feted at the awards, clinching the Best East, West, and South Africa Song of the Year category.

Unlike the previous editions, only a few artists didn’t show up for the event. Darassa had requested to sit out of this year’s edition as he worked on his album ahead of next year’s editions.

Rayvanny, who had three months before the event asked not to be considered for a nomination claiming certain elements didn’t want to see him take part in the awards, showed up for the Saturday event only to leave prematurely after a few minutes.

This year’s edition had been taunted to have undergone an ‘open-heart’ surgery to try glamour and glorify the 25-year-old award. To some extent the surgery was successful.

For the first time the TMA organising Committee had announced that through their partnership with BET, six winners of the TMA 2024 would get an opportunity to attend the prestigious Black Entertainment (BET) Awards in the US.

“The winners of the selected categories will get the opportunity to attend the awards ceremony, pre- and post-parties, and mingle with African artists who may also be nominated for the music awards. The pre-party will feature various performances, providing the artists with a platform to showcase their talent. This collaboration between the Tanzania Music Awards, MTV, and BET aims at elevating the recognition and celebration of Tanzanian music on an international scale.”

That’s a promise that now remains to be seen after BET snubbed the event.

For Baba Visi alias ‘Mubaba’, a legendary radio host, entertainment enterprenuer and podcast producer, the event didn’t fully live up to its billing.

“The event still felt so local. The most heartbreaking bit for me was the poor promotion of the event which we did not see despite enlisting several international media including MTV Base,” Mubaba points out.

Ever since the awards made a comeback in 2022 after a six-year hiatus having first been awarded in 1999, as Kilimanjaro Awards or Kili Music Awards as was popularly known, the now rebranded TMA has been on a journey of reinvention and evolution.

For the 2022 edition, the Tanzanian National Council (Baraza la Sanaa La Taifa or Basata) promised a difference.

This year, the organising committee introduced a raft of changes to gain recognition beyond the East African region as a prestigious award worth fighting for.

Basata tapped into the expertise of renowned music executive Seven Mosha, Head of Sony Music East Africa.

Ms Mosha, vice chairperson of the Awards Committee, maintains their goal is to get the awards international recognition. With her connections, she played a key role into getting a host of reputable international media houses aboard. Talk of BET, MTV Base, Rolling Stone, Variety, Okay Africa, GQ Magazine just to mention a few.

But that was not to be.

Only Rolling Stone magazine attempted to cover the event with a few social media posts.

Mubaba notes before the event a lot of changes had been promised by the TMA organising Committee and announcements made in public but not many were kept.

“BET never streamed the event yet we have TBC (Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation) that could have done the job of streaming the event to Tanzanians. Yes, it was streamed on YouTube, but how many Tanzanians can afford bundles? What kind of contracts did the organising committee sign with these partners? We would love to know,” Mubaba laments.

Choice of hosts

Bongo flava singer Ommy Dimpoz known for his charisma and wit, alongside comedian Idris Sultan were the main hosts of the TMA 2024, the first of many changes in the Awards. Like any other major award event, the choice of the host is as of important as the event itself.

“We picked Ommy Dimpoz because he is versatile in many ways. He is a musician, a comedian, and a Mcee as well. We have paired him with Idris Sultan who is also very comic. We have blended the two with other two female hosts who will bring in the whole glam and aesthetic appeal and things like that to the hosting duties,” Mosha stated on why they settled for the two ahead of the event.

Mubaba agrees, that this was well thought out but still poked holes into the process.

“It was great seeing the committee use several public figures to push the event because that’s part of branding. The same happens overseas. But if you are to check how our counterparts in the West do it, they always make announcements of the main hosts early enough. Why? So that they can leverage their host's brands being public figures to popularise the event and even enter into several business partnerships with others courtesy of the hosts. We didn’t do that. Our main hosts were announced at the last minute.’’

To ensure top notch performances, the TMA Committee hired experts from South Africa. However, part of the production, especially sound, was poor.

Mubaba argues that there weren't enough rehearsals done of the event and that is why the event had so many flaws.

“The sound checks problems witnessed were baffling. It was clear that there weren’t enough sound check rehearsals done by all parties involved in such a huge event production. That’s why there was a lot of confusion that kept dragging and delaying the event. Rehearsal for such a big event production are done more than seven times to ensure all parties are in sync and that’s why you don’t see many errors with the BET events production.”