MASERU — The fourth annual Lesotho Haeso Music Awards ceremony has been postponed to end of April.
According to Refiloe Ramone, one of the organisers from the Ministry of Tourism, the awards had to be moved from mid-March to the end of next month due to financial constraints.
“We had financial constraints that led to the date being moved to end of April from mid-March,” Ramone told the Weekender.
He added: “We also had to postpone the awards because we hadn’t yet finalised the Short Message Service (SMS) line for voting.”
The awards will see 38 local artistes battling it out in five categories of Famo, Kwaito, Gospel, Jazz and Hip hop.
“We will be using both Vodacom and Econet as our service providers for voting and as soon as Econet has confirmed the voting line, we will publicise the lines simultaneously.
“The Vodacom line has been confirmed but we cannot make it public to avoid complications and accusations of bias towards Vodacom users,” Ramone said.
He said the 2010/2011 final winners will not be determined by the voting percentages only.
“For transparency in the final results, we will have a panel of judges evaluating the nominees on the quality in their music.
“The percentage from the panel of judges will be added to the SMS voting percentage to find the average percentage that will determine the final winners.”
Ramone added: “We realised that artistes with money vote for themselves and win unjustly that is why we will be using two methods to come up with the winners.”
The judges were looking for quality in the artistes’ music.
Ramone said the ministry will also reward veteran musicians who have contributed to the development of the country’s music industry.
“The awards will be handed to people who have been in the music industry for a long time and have contributed to the field,” he said.
There will not be any voting for these awards.
The nominees for the awards in the five categories are:
Hip-Hop: DH Squad, Sneezy and Pre-Labour, Edge vs Moss, Skebza D, Juvenile, Blitz, Khasu Boy
Kwaito: Mthibo, Stlofa, Kudoza and Spido
Jazz: Senqu Jazz Band, Moprista, Two Brothers and Kopano Jazz Band
Gospel: Justice Mofoleng, April Ts’ola, Jerry Mohale, Khahliso Mphephoka, Lisebo Bosiu, Abel Qacha, Phuthi Thako, Malehlohonolo, ’Matlhohonolofatso and Majara, Ramosa Bosiu and Lele Khesuoe
Famo: Rabotso le Semanyane, Mohale oa Lioli, George Mofammere, Nalete, Phehla Marole, Khosing ha Ntaote, Lesoetsa Le Nkopane, Boima, Macheli, Khang ea Mathebe
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