Story by Patience Nyagato
THE Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) has honoured the country’s top musicians who excelled in the 2024 Radio Zimbabwe Top 50 Chart at an event held at the Mbare Studios in Harare this Friday.
It was celebration time for artists, including Top Ten winners of the country’s renowned Radio Zimbabwe Top 50 Chart, who walked away with price money, and Killer T being the biggest winner, he walked away with US$2 000 for his song ‘Kana Ndanyura’.
“This has given me the strength to do more this year. I am so happy I was honored by Radio Zimbabwe and Glow Petroleum. This year I will do my best to claim first position,” local artist Simon Mutambi said.
“Last year I did not have many songs but cutting across like this winning here at Radio Zimbabwe is a big deal for me,” Kae Chaps also said.
Show presenter Patricia Jacob spelled out the criteria used to determine the winners.
“Radio Zimbabwe listeners and fans voted last year. So we took songs that got the most votes and that’s how we had the top 50. We decided to honor other categories including youngest artist, upcoming artist, and best female artist of the year.”
The year 2024 saw a shift in the genres voted for by listeners, proving Radio Zimbabwe is appealing to all ages.
“Firstly, let me acknowledge that out of the 17 radio stations on the land, excluding community radio stations and campus radios, I am talking of the big stations, 17 of them, this is the biggest church show on the land,” ZBC Head Radio Services, Mr Albert Chekayi said.
“We are talking of over 2 million votes, cast to select the best artists. And you see the trend for last year, Killer T came out tops, and if you have to go to other sister stations, it featured, on national FM it was number one, it was also on Power FM.
“It shows, especially on Radio Zimbabwe, which was normally the home of Sungura, the way we are going as a nation. The young generation has some taste. Also as a radio station, we are saying we cannot continue playing like we are in the past. We also have to conform to the new trends that new generations want, and as Radio Zimbabwe, it also shows that it is a station for everyone. Our children, the youth, the middle-aged and the old, everyone, the children, the young, the old.”
The chart show, which partners with Glow Petroleum, feeds into the national broadcaster’s mandate of informing, educating, and entertaining.
“Today we were having a day to appreciate our listeners and our musicians. As you know, at ZBC we are the public broadcaster in Zimbabwe with a mandate to inform, to educate, and to entertain the nation,” Acting ZBC CEO Mr Tapiwa Mudzamba said.
“By appreciating the musicians, we thought that it is a noble thing because of the value they possess in our ecosystem, in our broadcast ecosystem because some of their music entertains, it helps us to entertain the nation, it helps us to inform the nation and also to educate because some of the music is educative in nature. So by and large, their music supports our core mandate. Hence, the need for us to appreciate and reward them like we were doing today.”
The biggest winner Killer T received US$2 000, the second prize winner Simon Mutambi walked away US$1 500 richer, while Sungura Ace Alick Macheso who was third, went home with US$1 000.
Rumbie Zvirikuzhe who scooped the Best Female Artist of the Year and Gidza Boy who was voted Young Artist of the Year, bagged US$500 each.
