South Africa is symbolic of a country that has seen political unrest and cultural hardships, but has begun enjoying a new found freedom. During these years on South Africa’s road to democracy there has been a central root connecting our diverse culture, contemporary gospel and spiritual music, making this the biggest selling music genre in South Africa.
The 4th annual Crown Gospel Music Awards are presented by the World Gospel Powerhouse™, a company established to assist performers and promote gospel music. The World Gospel Powerhouse ™ is affiliated to the international body, the Gospel Music Association and aims to promote this genre internationally, to see it soar to new heights.
Integrity artists ranging from hip hop to Afrikaans, have been nominated at this year’s awards, evidence of the barriers of the past being broken down.
In the category for Best Afrikaans Album, Rozanne Visagie is nominated for her album ‘Broken Fence’ and the song ‘Heer U Ken My’. “To share the message of His grace through the powerful medium of music is a tremendous responsibility, but also a true joy! He is the true Creator of art, music and all performing ability and we can merely strive towards excellence!” says Rozanne.
In the same category, Gwendoline has been nominated for her song ‘Living Ball’ from her album ‘Woord’. “It’s an unbelievable honor for me to be nominated for a Crown Award. It is great to know that people appreciate your music”, says Gwendoline.
All the buzz is around Fifty-5O Family since the release of their first commercial album ‘Kazi Kuyoba Njani’, they have scooped two nominations for Best R&B Gospel for their song ‘Thina Sobabili’ and Best Rap Gospel for their track ‘Can’t Give Up’. The group had this to say about their nomination, “this one is for every young urban gospel musician in Africa, this genre is still alive, and we should keep living and producing this music for this generation”.
In the Best Of Africa category the Moipei Quartet, also known as the Kenyan Angels, triplets Mary, Martha and Magdalene and their younger sister Seraphine have been nominated for their album ‘In The Land Of Lion’ and their song ‘The Little Brown Church’.
The SABC Crown Gospel Music Awards offers a fantastic platform to award and salute the tremendous growth of excellence in the Gospel Music Industry. The awards, will take place in the impressive iNkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre (ICC Arena) in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa on Sunday November 6. It is set to be a spectacular event of music and dance where winners will be awarded a symbolic crown.
