THE promotional roadshows for the 2017 edition of the Ultimate Music Awards (UMAs) will begin tomorrow at midday at Fairways Plaza in Maseru.
The event will feature performances from the nominees and interviews which will be broadcast live on Ultimate FM radio and its sister station, Radio Lesotho.
Ultimate FM Programmes Manager, Tello Leballo, this week told the Weekender that the aim was to give nominees a platform to market themselves.
“After launching this year’s awards in May, we held the preliminary roadshows to entice artistes to register for the awards,” Leballo said, adding, “now that there are nominations and we are now in the voting phase, the artistes can use the roadshows as a platform to sell their craft”.
“All nominees are invited to perform, canvass for votes as well as meet and greet their fans, some who may be seeing their favourite artistes live for the first time.”
The UMAs were introduced in 2014 with the aim of rewarding outstanding performances and motivating other artistes to work harder.
This year’s edition opened for entries in May and closed on 31 August. The categories include (10 nominees), Kwaito (eight), Famo (10), Gospel (eight), Urban Contemporary (six), Afro Pop (eight), Music Video (eight), Collaboration by Duo or Group (eight) and Dance (eight).
There are also special categories where judges nominated eight finalists in each category. These are Best Newcomer (eight), Best Male (eight), Best Female (six), Best Producer (eight), International Breakthrough (eight) and Song of the Year which has 15 nominations.
Each nominee has a voting code which can be SMSed to either 31019 for one vote (M2) and 31012 for 15 votes (M30). The finalists in each category will be chopped down to top three ahead of the finals which will be held at ‘Manthabiseng Convention Centre on 18 November this year.
Leballo also said that the road shows will be held in different parts of the country with Butha Buthe district to follow next week.
