SAMAs receive high number of entries

The awards ceremony will be held on 26 May at the Sun City Superbowl near Rustenburg.

"We received over 700 entries, while in 2016 the number stood at about 470," a SAMAs statement reads. “The overwhelming response is indicative of a burgeoning music industry and is a vote of confidence in the most prestigious music award ceremony in the land. In our pursuit of transparency and openness, the office of the SAMAs has resolved to share all the names of the entrants with the public."

The SAMAs will reveal the five nominees in each category this month as voted for by a panel of judges and verified by independent auditors.

Now in its 23rd edition, the event received 106 entries in the Best Collaboration category while the Best Produced Album category got 72 entries from various genres such as dance, gospel, gqom, rap, jazz and R&B. The Best Engineered category received 46 entries.

Specific genre categories also experienced an increase. The Best Dance Album received 27 entries followed closely by Best Rap Album with 25 entries. Best Jazz Album has 15 projects eligible for nomination.

The Best Maskandi Album has drawn 13 entries while Best Traditional Music Album has 15. The Traditional Faith Music Album category earned 14 entries.

In other categories, the Best Alternative Music Album category received 18 entries while Best Kwaito Album got a slight increase with six album entries. Remix of the Year stands at 16 entries.

DVD recordings remain popular with 11 entries for Best Live Audio Visual Recording, while the newly introduced Best African Artist category attracted six entries from Zimbabwe, Nigeria and Botswana.

Entries were open from 1 November 2016 to 31 January 2017. According to the statement, the vetting process was handled by the Recording Industry of South Africa (RiSA) and record company representatives. A list of nominees will be announced on 23 April.

Last week, RiSA CEO Nhlanhla Sibisi 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. Sibisi also said the increase in entries meant that there was healthy competition in the South African music industry.

For a complete list of entries please visit the SAMAs official website here.