Rema, Walukagga win big at HiPipo awards
Feb 11, 2013
Gifted vocalist Rema, real name Rehema Namakula, who came into the limelight after her collaboration with Bebe Cool in Cease And Seckle, was the biggest winner of the night at the first-ever HiPipo Music Awards at Theatre La Bonita on Saturday. HiPipo is a social media-driven entertainment site.
By Micheal Kanaabi
Gifted vocalist Rema, real name Rehema Namakula, who came into the limelight after her collaboration with Bebe Cool in Cease And Seckle, was the biggest winner of the night at the first-ever HiPipo Music Awards at Theatre La Bonita on Saturday. HiPipo is a social media-driven entertainment site.
The awards Rema won were Best Reggae Song alongside Bebe Cool for the collaboration Missing You, Best R&B Song for Oliwange and Top HiPipo Charts Award. Others were Best Breakthrough Artiste and finally Best Female Artiste, which pitted her alongside industry titans like Irene Namubiru, Juliana Kanyomozi and Grace Nakimera.
trueRema crowned off her moment of glory by falling on her knees and thanking her fans for all their support, as well as putting up a compelling live performance of her song, Oliwange.
Navio was the other big winner of the night. He took home awards for Best Social Media Star, Best Hip Hop Artiste and Best Video.
The biggest surprise winner was kadongo kamu’s man of the moment, Mathias Walukagga, who took best Kadongo Kamu Artiste.
He also bagged the Best Male Artiste and Song of the Year Award for his controversial Bakoowu hit that dominated airwaves throughout 2012.
Other winners included Bebe Cool, Vampino, Young Mulo, Young Zee and Viboyo.
Performances from Mr. Woods, Shamim, Daxx Kartel and Drumex Band kept the event alive, with Navio and Vampino crowning off the awards that gave us a little feel of red carpet glitz and glamour.
Award shows in Uganda have not been known to be smooth sailing and so the mishaps at the maiden HiPipo Music Awards were not surprising. First of all, the gala started at about 9:00pm, two hours later than the scheduled time.
The projectors also failed initially, so the names of nominated artistes had to be read out loud. Most of the big-name artistes like Bebe Cool, Jose Chameleone and Bobi Wine and some other people supposed to present awards to winners were nowhere to be seen.
Music award shows in Uganda also seem to have a shelf life; PAM Awards and DIVA Awards, which were a big thing in the local music industry, went mysteriously silent two years ago.
While these awards are laudable for bringing back what should be a mainstay in the music industry, it was a shaky start for HiPipo awards. It being the first time HiPipo organised an event of such magnitude, you need to cut them some slack and hope they will do better next time.
trueHipipo 2013 winners
Artiste of the Year — Bebe Cool
Best Male Artiste — Mathias Walukagga
Best Female Artiste — Rema
Best Breakthrough Artiste — Rema
Best Artiste in Diaspora — Fyonna Nsubuga
Best Artiste on Social Media —Navio
Best Young/Teen Artiste — Young Zee
Best On-Stage Performer —Vampino
Best Audio Producer — Hannz Tactiq
Best Video Producer — Seasons Kim/XP
Album of the Year — Book of Kirya by Maurice Kirya
Video of the Year — One and Only by Navio
Song of the Year — Bakoowu by Mathias Walukagga
Best Hip Hop Song — One and Only By Navio
Best R&B Song — Oli Wange by Rema
Best Ragga-Dancehall Song —Tebakusobola by Yung Mulo
Best Reggae Song — Missing You by Bebe Cool and Rema
Best Gospel Song — Body Guard by Emron and Sizzaman
Best Band Song — Bwolonda by Chris Evans
Best Kadongo Kamu Song —Bakoowu by Mathias Walukagga
Best Zouk Song — Valu Valu by Jose Chameleone
Best Afropop and Soul Song — Zina by Viboyo Ft Vampino and Benon
Best Afrobeat Song — Jennifer by Bobi Wine
Best HiPipo Charts Artiste — Rema