Tears and joy expected at PMVA gala set for tomorrow

The biggest music video awards in Kenya, the Pulse Music Video Awards (PMVA) will take place tomorrow at the Nairobi Street Kitchen, Westlands.

This year’s gala, themed ‘Unmasking the Beat’, is focused on celebrating the authentic and resilience nature of artistes and other creatives.

With 10 categories and more than 50 nominees waiting for the big announcement, the gala night will be a celebration of the best music talent witnessed in the country in the past year with all industry players represented.

The event starts at 6pm with a red carpet reception.

Since 2015, the awards have been all about glitz and glamour, with fashion trends and styles being the major highlights on the red carpet. 

“Kenyan celebrities are known to pull all the stops when dressing up for a particular function. We hope to see their style, swag and taste,” says Peris Wambugu, the red carpet host.

On the red carpet, Standard Entertainment reporters; Peris Wambugu and Patience Tamara will be holding it down while the gala awards will be hosted by the bubbly newest addition member of KTN Home, Sharon Kate Ng’ang’a and co-hosted by TV and radio personality Brian Aseli.

“I am supper excited for the PMVA 2021. And hosting alongside the beautiful Sharon is an unforgettable experience bearing in mind I was her fan way before she joined Standard Group,” said Brian.

 “This is a new exciting experience for me and we hope for an experience beyond our expectations,” says Sharon.

2021 saw the birth of a new breed of entertainers now dubbed, ‘Covid Entertainers’.

The newcomers have shaken the industry. Fairly new industry entrants - Trio Mio and Krispah - are set to go against heavyweights such as Khaligraph Jones, Mejja, Willy Paul and Bahati in the Male Video of the Year category.

Musically speaking, 2021 was a promising year for newcomers with Brandy Maina, Dantez 254, Buruklyn Boys, Mell Baron, Lexil and Ethan Muziki, who will be battling it out for the New Artiste of the Year category.

Nikita Kering, who made history in 2018 as the youngest musician, 16, to ever walk home with a PMVA award during the fourth annual PMVAs is back in the hotly contested Female Video of the Year category.

The EX crooner is going head to head with female artistes such as Jovial, Ssaru, Femi One, Nadia Mukami and Maandy.

PMVAs are known for surprises. The 2020 edition saw a man, Keith Chuaga, take home the Video Vixen award.

What many thought was a new phenomenon set the pace and opened the doors for more men to do their thing.

Keith stepped into a “woman’s world’’ set precedence and this year, Alex Mathenge is battling it out with the other four video queens.

The stage is set and the live televised event will also feature performances by leading Kenyan stars such as Redsan.