Amantle Brown dominates BOMU nominations

THABANG REGOENG

Amantle Brown’s Sa Pelo album has earned her 7 nominations for the upcoming 8th Botswana Musicians Union (BOMU) awards slated for Boipuso Hall, Fairgrounds holdings in Gaborone this Saturday.
Brown, 23, is nominated for the best song of the year category (Black Mampatile), best album of the year (Sapelo), best female of all time, best video of the year, best single of the year, best packaged album, and best R&B album of the year. The music of the former My Star finalist has been getting massive airplay across local stations, getting her endless bookings for the past few months.
Folk jazz group, Sereetsi & The Natives who also had quite an eventful 2016, follows close behind with 5 nominations including Song of The Year which is easily “the group of death” as it clashes true heavy weights. This category will seeSereetsi’s Robete, Mlesho’s hit single Hlomela, Dj Chrispin Sedi Laaka and another Thomela version by Madala vying for the top award.
Addressing hundreds of musicians and media this past Tuesday, BOMU President Michael Mmusi acknowledged that despite the problems the Union has faced, the awards continue to be strong.
“BOMU has been surrounded with so much controversy, but we have continued to strive on and recognize talent that is all over the country. For the artists who have been nominated, they must cherish the recognition because this year we have recorded the highest number of entrants,” he said.
Meanwhile, BOMU Awards Chief Judge Rasina Winfred Rasina members of the public should rest assured that the awards will be fair and accurate.
“As judges we always want to nominate and select the best material which will reach international standards. We experienced some problems particularly in the packaging selection where an artist just write a CD title with a black marker and enter for the Best Packaged Album category. We were very strict in the selection process which is why we omitted other categories such as best Kwaito as BOMU is on a mission to growth on local genres,” he said.
Time Out has learnt that Song of The Year category winner will perform at Lesotho music awards, courtesy of BOMU’s liaison with Ultimate FM in Lesotho. The Maseru based radio station is expected to send delegates to the BOMU awards over the weekend to benchmark.
Tickets for the awards will sell at P500 single and P900 double.