March 28, 2024

INFO 10

THE TRUTH IN BLACK AND WHITE

MAFI SWEEPS LINDEN MUSIC AWARDS

Most awarded artiste ‘Mafi’

The highly anticipated Linden Music Awards was a historic one for the town’s artiste and saw very talented artistes being awarded for their contributions to the local music industry. The rising star, ‘Mafi’ was a definite force to reckon with during the night. He copped three of his four nominations – the People’s Choice Award, Best New Artiste of the Year, and Collaboration of the Year.

The event which was hosted at the Watooka Guest House on Saturday, brought down the curtains on a calendar of activities that was held in observance of Tourism Month. It was organized by Region Ten’s Tourism Committee and is projected to be an annual event.


Some of the award winning artiste


Although unable to be at the award ceremony, ‘Mafi’ took to Facebook to share gratitude. He wrote, “First I would like to thank God for his continuous blessings. Big thank you to my friends and family who have been supporting me throughout my musical journey…To all my ‘One Mile’ supporters around the world, I cannot thank you guys enough for believing in me as a ghetto youth. I appreciate each and every one of you that listen and share my music with the rest of the world.”
The night’s list of winners also included gospel artistes namely, Best Live Gospel Band, Redeemers Band; Best Female Gospel Artiste, Rene Winter; Best Male Gospel Artiste, Gerald ‘Double G’ Gravesande; and Musician of the Year, Pastor Richard Mc Donald.
Taking the Calypsonian of the Year Award was ‘De Professor’, while the Songwriter of the Year Award went to ‘GT Youths.’
‘Static’ who won the True Patriotic Song Award said in his short speech that the award represents the hard work he puts into his art and the passion he has for Linden. Quoting lyrics from his winning song, ‘We Own’, he said, “if you ask me where I am from, Lindener to my bone, and that is what I take anywhere that I go and I represent that and I live by that. I appreciate this a lot.”
Copping the Best Cover Remix Award was Deon Anderson, while Diana Chapman won Contemporary Artiste of the Year, and ‘Gucci Boss’ won ‘Rukatooks’ Artiste of the year. In his speech, ‘Gucci Boss called the award ceremony a dream. He said, “this is a dream right here to see Guyana recognize its arts and talents and everyone knows that I am an advocate for this.”

Some of the award winning artiste

Jefferey Jackson won the Denis Parkinson Lifetime Achievement Award for his involvement in music for over 30 years. The veteran said that he will continue teaching the youths about music until his time is done on earth.
The Children Band Steel Orchestra Award went to Linden Drum Core; the Radio DJ of the Year Award went to DJ Fearless; DJ Bad Boyz was proclaimed Dancehall DJ of the Year, and Jason Copeland was declared Music Video Director of the Year.
Other winners are Lashawn Banz, R&B Hip Hop Artiste of the Year; ‘Best’, Reggae Artiste of the Year and ‘Wavy Davy’ who won Collaboration of the Year with ‘Mafi’, among others.
In a brief statement, Member of Parliament Jermaine Figueira, commended the Region Ten Tourism Committee for pulling off the historic event. He noted that Linden has a lot of talented persons that must be celebrated.
Figueira added, “I know this would definitely set the trend and I know Linden has always been a trend setting town. I always boast that Linden is the bread basket of talent for this country and I believe this is the first step in giving recognition to the artistes.”