Zambia’s music scene enters new era

The Zambia Music Awards are poised to enter an exciting new phase with the entertainment industry driving the future of the event in the coming year.
Zambian Breweries, which has sponsored the event for the last four years through its Mosi lager brand, has announced it will now focus on the Mosi Day of Thunder, allowing the National Arts Council (NAC) and the Zambia Association of Musicians (ZAM) to take the Zambia Music Awards event to the next level.
The company will instead concentrate its resources on a single event, the Mosi Day of Thunder music festival in Livingstone on April 29. This will bring together fans and artists from different genres across the country to celebrate the nation’s art and culture at the home of the country’s most famous landmark, Mosi-o-Tunya, something never done before.
Artists already confirmed for this year’s festival include Danny Kaya, Urban Hype, James Sakala, Jay Rox, Chef 187, Slap Dee, Marimba Band from Avani, DJ Psycho Tash and Bittersweet poets.
Now in its second year, the musical extravaganza promises to be even bigger and better than last years, which attracted more than 7,500 partygoers from all walks to life across the country and beyond.
In 2016 the Zambia Music Awards in Lusaka was run in parallel with the Mosi Day of Thunder music festival in Livingstone. For 2017 the two events will be separated, with the awards run by the music industry and the Mosi Day of Thunder continuing to be staged by Zambian Breweries.
“Zambian Breweries has been a proud sponsor of the Zambia Music Awards for a number of years and we continue to be committed to supporting Zambian arts and culture in all forms, especially music,” said Zambian Breweries Head of Brand Marketing Nomonde Donsa, who explained that the company had decided to focus more of its marketing resources on the Mosi Day of Thunder festival, which will be held in Livingstone in April 29, 2017.
“Zambia’s musicians are all winners, hence the Zambia Music Awards will no longer be a key element of our musical support, said Ms Donsa, who added that the company may still look at sponsoring an individual category of the ceremony.
“The Mosi Day of Thunder encapsulates Mosi lager’s aim to unite Zambians to unleash thunderous potential,” she added.
Tickets are K50 and available from Computicket in Shoprite stores nationwide.
The Mosi Day of Thunder is not open to under-18s.