Kenya lucks out at Channel O awards

NAIROBI, October 31, 2009 – A trio of double wins turned the 2009 Channel O Music Video Awards into a show of strength for artists from Nigeria, Zimbabwe and Namibia.

Kenya, which won three awards at the recent MTV Africa Music Awards lucked out completely, despite having four nominations.

Darey Art Alade (Nigeria), Gal Level (Namibia) and Buffalo Souljah (Zimbabwe) each won two awards.

Darey was named Best Male at the star-studded event at Carnival City on Thursday, hosted by the talented trio of Vuzu VJ Nonhle, Lungile and KB.

Darey was also named winner of Best R&B for ‘Not The Girl’, a track off his album unDAREYted.

His win at Africa’s most prestigious awards event comes just ahead of the third edition of the Nigerian Music Video Awards where Darey is the leading nominee with six nods.

Darey’s triumph was matched by the success of both Buffalo Souljah and Gal Level. Their collaboration with Taygrin, for the tune ‘Type of Guy’, was named Best Duo or Group.

Gal Level scored another win on the night when the Namibian duo’s video ‘Touch Me’’ took the award for Best Afro Pop.

Zimbabwean Buffalo Souljah took home last year’s award for Best Newcomer – and the 2009 Channel O Music Awards again proved fertile ground for this talented artist when his video ‘Judgement’ was named Best Dancehall for the second year in a row.

NAETO_C_819369690.jpgNaeto C of Nigeria meanwhile, also took home the fiercely contested Amarula Video of the Year Award for ‘Ki Ni Big Deal’.

Adding more fuel to Nigeria’s dominance was Sasha who took home the award for Best Female for her song ‘Only One’ while Ikechukwu was named winner of the Best West category for the edgy hip hop effort, ‘Shoobedoo’.

Botswana’s hip hop fans, however, proved their might by ensuring Game “Zeus” Bantsi took home the trophy for Best Hip Hop for ‘Gijima’ – putting the rapper on top in the face of some stiff competition.

South Africa was represented by Khuli Chana who first came to fame as part of Morafe and whose debut video ‘Tswak Stik’em’ saw him named Best Newcomer.  Also flying the South African flag was Bleksem who featured in Gazza’s track “Passop” which won Best Kwaito – while Namibian, Lady May, was named winner of the Best Dance category for her song ‘Ndota’.

Mozambique’s leading female artist, Lizah James, won the Best Southern category for ‘Estilo Xakhale’. Ugandan artist XOD took home the award for Best East for ‘I Want You’.

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