PPC Zim Music Awards Best Alternative winner to showcase at ACCES 2023

The partnership will see the winner of the ZIMAs Best Alternative category travel to the pan-African music trade show to perform in front of influential music professionals from Africa and around the globe.

The news comes ahead of the upcoming ZIMAs awards ceremony on 3 June at the 7 Arts Theatre in the capital Harare, where the Best Alternative winner will be announced, joining a robust line-up of African musicians who will perform at ACCES 2023.

The nominees for the Best Alternative Award, which will be presented by Music In Africa reporter Ano Shumba at the awards show, are Jeys Marabini, MJ Sings, Msiz'kay and Feli Nandi.

“We are thrilled to partner with the ZIMAs,“ Music In Africa Foundation director Eddie Hatitye said. “This partnership will provide a Zimbabwean act the opportunity to work with top music players and take their career to the next level. We’ve had many success stories at ACCES, where many of our showcasing artists have ended up working with international labels and event organisers to take their music to new audiences.”

ZIMAs executive member Fungai Zvirawa said: “The collaboration between the MIAF and the ZIMAs is significant for the country’s music sector. It’s unquestionably a step up because the ZIMAs will offer a direct route to the ACCES conference, which is known for showcasing upcoming artists to music executives and other important industry players on a global platform in addition to from a pan-African one.

“We’re thrilled about this collaboration because we believe Zimbabwean talent merits recognition. We’re also thrilled that the ZIMAs will participate in the ACCES programme, where we'll present our goals and aspirations in the hope that they will resonate with a global audience.”

ACCES makes its return to Dar es Salaam after it was held in the Tanzanian city for the first time last year. That event programmed some 14 musical acts and a total of 70 individual artists for its showcase programme, and drew executives from prominent music companies like Spotify, Boomplay, Ditto Music, Universal Music, The Orchard, TuneCore, Sheer Publishing and Electromode, among many others.

More about ACCES

Organised by the Music In Africa Foundation, ACCES is a pan-African trade show for music industry players to exchange ideas, discover new talent and create business linkages. The pan-African music conference has taken place in Dakar, Senegal (2017), Nairobi, Kenya (2018), Accra, Ghana (2019), Johannesburg, South Africa (2021) and Dar es Salaam, Tanzanian (2022). ACCES 2023 will be held in partnership with Siemens Stiftung, Goethe-Institut and the Zimbabwe Music Awards. More partners will be announced soon.

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