Defunct Groove Awards ?

Some so many years ago when Dj Kev, now known as Big Kev was launching the famous Groove Awards, all the gospel artists wanted to join in the craze and get to be known and feted as one of the names behind the gospel industry in Kenya. Fact still remains as one of the biggest gospel awards ceremony in the country currently. But, so many years past and it’s still being fought hard by most of the household names in the country.

But, the gospel fraternity has been rocked with yet another disappointment when two of the great names to hit the industry just a few years back have been rumoured to quite the competition or is it that the organizers have seen them as liabilities to the organization?

Some few years back the now nominated Daddy Owen burst into the limelight as one of the artists to watch in the music industry and he went on and won the best artist of the year. But, later refuted to join the coveted awards sighting issues of rigging or artist placement in various categories so as to sell a particular individual and with this he was banned from competing in the awards ceremony. The same fate befell the “Niko Na Reason” hit singer, Ekko Dydda. He was awarded for best collabo and video of the year alongside Holy Matheu Dave, but when he talked ill about the awards organization he was also banned from ever appearing in the ceremony.

Now the same fate is triggered towards the cry old baby, “Mama” and “Machozi” hit singer Bahati and his arch rival Willy Paul of the hit single “Vigelegele”. Earlier this year they were rumoured to be at logger heads again sighting a great rift, from Bahati’s “Story Yangu”collabo with Denno where he tells Denno to reveal the issues he had with Daddy Owen from their hit collabo “Mbona”, that took Bahati out of the music scene for a number of months, until finally coming back in the scene with yet another hit single, “Itakua sawa” where he tells of his rivals on how he will be okay despite their constant foul play on his songs.

This then brings me to my point of the day, is this a true and real Gospel awards show or it is a means of getting people in the venue and selling tickets to the various events around the country, in the pretence of publicizing the show in itself?

But, the facts are so clear if you talk ill of the awards show and you are a gospel artist then you stand fought by the Deejays and promoters who are all linked in one way or the other. The links I will delve into on a different story title, but now I pose the question, are they really saved, or does salvation end where money talks begin? Chew on those facts and be the judge, the bible says judge not.