And Now… Here Are The Kenyan Grammy Awards… Best Song, Best Album, Best New Artist… Best Everything. Check It Out (Photos)

The 2016 Grammy Awards happened on February 15th… With spectacular performances from some of the music world’s most popular figures. Lady Gaga brought the house down in a stupendous performance in tribute to the iconic David Bowie,Taylor Swift,the princess of music and perennial Kanye West target of hate opened the show in a shimmering number blitzing her way through her number one hits,Tori Kelly had the perfect ‘Resting Bitch Face’ of all time,Kendrick Lamar shook the arena with a politically-charged performance that stirred up America and Adele,the god of music,fumbled through a performance that was replete with sound troubles,technical hitches and her strange inability to weave through her notes and work those pipes as flawlessly as she’s known to.

Lauryn Hill and Rihanna,both music divas notoriously known to stubbornly make their own rules and do as they please,bailed out on their scheduled performances almost throwing the whole event in limbo for a minute.

Many Wards were dished out that night with Kendrick Lamar,the new rap czar,taking home five gongs and Taylor Swift,exuberant and ebullient,taking swipes at her omniscient detractor, Kanye West,putting him down and managing to inspire little girls and young artists all at the same time.

Demure British singer Ed Sheeran took home the Hong for Song of The Year for his ubiquitous love anthem ‘Thinking Out Loud’,Meghan Taylor,my personal favorite,was honored with a’ Best New Artist’ gong,Bruno Mars,the electrifying Super Bowl legend walked away with the ‘Record of the Year’ honors for ‘Uptown Funk’,while the’ Best Dance Recording’ Grammy went to reformed teen derelict Justin Bieber for ‘Where Are U Now’.

Other awards were presented for different categories and Taylor Swift took home the Award for’ Best Video ‘,Kendrick walking away with yet another for anti-police rallying anthem’ Alright ‘,Reggae band Morgan Heritage scooping the’ Best Reggae Album ‘ and seasoned Gospel luminary Kirk Franklin sweeping away the’ Best Gospel Performance ‘gong.

Inspired by the Grammy Awards,and the glorious performances that illuminated the night,Ghafla Kenya has decided to line up our own AWARDS too. Uncreatively titled’ Kenya’s Grammy Awards 2016′.

And HERE are the winners. As voted by…. Us!

1. Best New Artist- Timmy Dat

He brought you the Pacho-produced hip pop hit ‘Welle Welle’ with a special,comical flow peppered with some distinctive Luo accent and with some very witty punchlines and catchy hook and melody. Even after ‘Welle Welle’, Timmy Dat continued to surprise us with hit after hit,funny space styles and some very interesting,unique videos. His current hit ‘Tumekubali’ with the Kansoul is currently ruling the airwaves and one of the most played songs in Kenyan clubs countrywide. He has an captivating style of rap that,for it’s easiness and catchiness, has endeared him to the masses and earned him many collaborations with established rappers including P-Unit’s Frasha, Rabbit and Nonini. Timmy Dat contains to rock us and surprise us with stuff we didn’t see coming… Like the fact that he wears flowing blue Legio Maria robes for a school scene in the ‘Tumekubali’ hit. Genius.

 

2. Song of the Year – Mwema, Mercy Masika

For the second time now,Ghafla has crowned Masika’s Mwema as the song of the Year. And rightfully so. Despite the fact that the song was released late December 2014,it,to this day, still drives audiences crazy and is also one of the most requested and played songs across Kenyan radio. It’s also am easy to song along to song making it even more endearing and everlasting. The music video too,is among the few Kenyan videos to cross the 1 Million mark on YouTube. Brilliant.

 

3. Album of the Year – Sauti Sol’s Live and Die In Afrika.

The Sol Philosophers are a band that has been around for almost a decade. And that has been ruling the airwaves and driving girls crazy for like half a decade now. Their music is electric. With the most superior production,perfect arrangement,brilliant songwriting,flawless production,topnotch mastering,glorious melodies and international-standards packaging,Live and Die in Afrika is easily the most important album of our age. The overall product looks-and sounds-like something produced by Universal Music in collaboration with Quincy Jones,Coca Cola,Jimmy Iovine,L.A Reid and Dr. Dre. Superior.

 

4. Record of the Year – Ojuelegba, Kaligraph Jones

The Record of the Year Award if different from the Song of the Year Award in that whereas the Song of the Year Award recognizes a song’s melody,tune,songwriting and arrangement the Record of the Year Award recognizes a song’s overall production; the beat,the mastering,the sound engineering,the instrumentation. Khaligraph gets to win this Award for the fact that,even though Ojuelegba is actually another artist’s song,and the beat concept his too,King Khali did mighty justice to the song’s remix,bringing his own Vibe to the song,own story and own flow. The song even became a hit in Nigeria itself where Wizkid,the song’s original creator, hails from. Deserved win.

5. Video of the Year – Just A Band, Awuor Arunga ‘Winning In Life’

The song itself,even without talking about the video,is a masterpiece. And then comes the beautiful video for the beautiful testament of Love ‘Winning in Life’. Just A Band’s own Mbithi Masya took the lead in creating the visuals for their latest banger, backed up by some great coloring and cinematography by Joan Poggio and equally awesome choreography by Kui Kariuki and Kwach Willy. Depicting a couple’s first moments after realizing they have brought a new life into this world, this music video has so many visually captivating scenes. Who would have thought a boda boda ride could look so cool?! And those attires? And cute little love scenes? Flowers and shy smiles? Sweet.

 

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6. Best Club Banger /Dance Song- Weka Weka – P Unit.

 

This group should have walked away with the Best Video gong too. That video,directed by the masterly Enos Olik was superb! The coloring was great. Shots were classic. Choreography was beautiful and overall editing awesome. But the song itself… It was something else. No song lit up the dance floors quite like Weka Weka did. They owned the floor. These ones.

 

7.Best Songwriter- Mr. Vee

For those not in the know, Mr. Vee is the gentleman who wrote the beautiful lyrics to the monster jam ‘Mwema’ and ‘Nikupendeze’ both by Mercy Masika. Mr. Vee,a retired Gospel artist,it seems,seemed to have found his truest calling in writing music. And when he picked up that pen,crafting succulent tunes and creating glorious melodies for Mercy Masika. His star was born. Songwriter extraordinaire . Our own Ed Sheeran. Or Kirk Franklin.

 

8. Best Vocal Performance – Mercy Masika – Nikupendeze

This looks like the Mercy Masika year for real. If you’ve had the chance,the blessed chance to listen to ‘Nikupendeze’ another one of Mercy’s biggest 2015 hits,you will agree with us that the vocal performance exhibited in that song is, to say the least,award-worthy. Starting off with a sweet slow humming,graduating to a soft low stanza,veering off to a powerfully sang pre-Chorus and then an almighty chorus,Nikupendeze is sang with the brilliance of a goddess. Towards the end of the song, Mercy reminds us,yet again,why she’s East Africa’s undisputed vocal Queen. Baraka.

9. Best Live Performance-Sauti Sol

If you’ve had the chance to watch Sauti Sol on stage, you’ll understand how the band ended up here. Actually, what they did at the Ngong Racecourse over the Valentine’s weekend is enough to earn them the Award. Undisputed.

 

10. Best New Comic – Jemutai

Female comedians,all around the world,are a special species. We don’t have enough of them. And the few we have either aren’t very good or sufficiently appreciated. Among the crowd of comics – most of them boring,lame dumbfucks – who make up the Churchill Show juggernaut,a few ladies stand out. Most of the time they are good. Some other time,not all that. But one lady stands out even harder -Jemutai – the unassuming,flawlessly funny Rift Valley native. Jemutai has,for the little time she’s been on air, managed to effortlessly rise to the very top,making mincemeat of most of her unfunny male colleagues and relegating her female colleagues to the cold, back bench. Jemutai is uncharacteristically funny. Doesn’t toil too hard to make you laugh,eases through her act with sheer excellence and has a signature dress code-and sound-that, by itself,evokes laugher. She’s quickly gaining legendary status. While her humorless colleagues fumble their dumb way through a routine of tired and tried regugitates for jokes. Class act.

Bonus Award

11. Asshole of the Year – Kanye West

Yes,even here,thousands of miles away from Amuuuricah, Kanye sucks. Big. Brilliant musician though. And entertainer. For sure.

Have a winning weekend.