South African Music Awards return to Sun City

Sun City is a hotel and casino resort in South Africa’s North West province that is ideal for golfing, game viewing and water sports, among others.

Recording Industry of South Africa (RISA) CEO Nhlanhla Sibisi said Sun City was a perfect venue because of its convenience. “You have everything in one place and it helps in terms of preparing the SAMAs,” he said. “It is a home that has served the South African Music Awards well. It’s such a delight to be returning to Sun City.

Sibisi also said the SAMAs had seen a decline in entries last year when the awards were held at the Durban International Convention Centre due to a massive multimillion-rand revamp of Sun City. This year, however, there were twice as many entries ahead of the nominees launch in mid-April.

Sibisi said the SAMAs had taken stock of previous categories and would now introduce three new accolades: Best African Indigenous Gospel album (Clap & Tap/Zion Music), Best Africa Artist Album and Best Afro-pop Album. 

The introduction of the new categories can be seen as an answer to the growing popularity of Kenyan and Nigerian music in South Africa, which can be chalked up to numerous collaborations between South African artists and their African counterparts. This will be the first time that music from the rest of Africa will be considered at the SAMAs.   

The SAMAs were first held in 1994, the same year that the country saw its first democratically elected government. Since then 14 of the 22 SAMA award ceremonies have been held in Sun City, a venue that has also hosted the Miss World pageant on five occasions.