The fate of Kora Awards remains unknown with organisers mum on the date for the event since its last postponement on 20th March.
The awards ceremony which was due to take place in Windhoek, Namibia has a Malawian nominee, Piksy. It was slated for December last year but it had to be moved to 20th March because the venue to set up the dome where it would be held could not be secured.
According to sources from Namibia, the continental event was cancelled leaving zero probability of it happening against postponement claims made on Kora Africa Facebook page. It was reported that failure to reach an agreement between the Namibian government and the organisers on finances led to the cancellation.
The organiser, Ernest Andjovi, wanted the Namibian government to cough a total of U$4.5 Million for the event. When asked about how much he was going to invest in the ceremony, Andjovi refused to disclose the amount thereby making the government reluctant to make the transaction.
Efforts to get Piksy’s reaction on the matter proved futile as his line was out of reach by the time we went to press.
The musician was nominated in the best Southern African category, thanks to his Moto song. Also nominated in the same category with Piksy are South Africa’s internationally recognised hip hop artist AKA and Zambian dancehall icon Petersen.
Kora awards have been staged 12 times since they were founded in 1994 by Andjovi. They are meant to celebrate Africa’s rich music art through awarding musicians from different countries in the continent. They were named after West African music instrument, Chordophone.
From the look of things, there will be no Kora awards this year unless the organisers play their cards differently.
Piksy