Gospel singer Sarah K emerged as the biggest winner during the Groove Awards gala night held on Sunday night at the KICC in Nairobi.
Sarah K bagged three awards for Female Artiste and Song Writer of the Year. Her song, Hakuna Silaha, was voted the best Worship Song of the Year. Although it was a big night for Sarah K, she was not at the event but her son and producer received the awards on her behalf, saying that the singer was performing in the US.
The award for Best Male Artiste went to Kevin Bahati, who has only been in the gospel music industry for less than two years. His songs ‘machos’, ‘mama’ and the latest release ‘Barua’, have received massive airplay.
After accepting his award from Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru and Safaricom’s marketing director Rita Okuthe, Bahati said: “This is the same jacket I wore last year while receiving my first award. I just wanted to remind myself that I’m still the same Bahati.”
Size 8 beat seasoned performers to take home the Video of the Year award for her popular song, Mateke. She trounced veteran singers like Jimmy Gait, Alice Kamande, Daddy Owen and DK Kwenye Beat to win the award.
The Lifetime Achievement award went to Peter Kaberere, who died in April. Kaberere, known for his album, Kiburi, was honoured for his outstanding contribution as an event organiser and gospel singer. His wife, Njeri Kaberere, was there to receive the award.
Before he met his death, he was the operations manager at Mo Sound Limited, the company that hosts the Groove Awards.The Song of the Year award went to a relative newcomer, Pitson, for his ‘Lingala Ya Yesu’ which has been enjoying considerable replays on morning gospel television shows.
Trounced veterans
In the Collaboration of the Year category, Betty Bayo’s song with Mr Seed, ‘Ngai Ti Mundu’, trounced veteran performers like Rufftone and Daddy Owen to win.
The glamorous gala, hosted by NTV news anchor Victoria Rubadiri and DJ Soxxy, was the ninth edition of the awards since its inception in 2004. NTV’s gospel show ‘Crossover 101’ won the Best Gospel TV Show award.
In addition to that, one of its hosts, DJ Mo, was also crowned the Best DJ.New comer L-Jay Maasai also to beat other veterans like Emmy Kosgey to win the Rift Valley Song of the Year award, with his song ‘Laleiyo’ which also features Shiro wa GP, who shot to fame with her song, Agiginyani.
Other regional winners were Betty Bayo (Central), Stephen Kasolo (Easter), Christine Otieno (Nyanza), Pastor Anthony Musembi (Pwani) and Geoffrey Kwatemba (Western).
The guest of honour was Devolution Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru, who is her speech promised to review the system through which performing artistes are paid. “I’m sure musicians make a lot of revenue off the sale of their music, but what gets to them is not more than 20 per cent.
