Exodus, Mutesasira shine at Olive Gospel Music Awards

By Joyce Nyakato at the Olive Gospel Music Awards

KAMPALA - Imagine being called up on stage to receive an award and the first words are “Glory is to God”! Not the kind we are used too. 

But during Saturday’s Olive Gospel Music awards, they turned out to be the cliché for every category.  Well, you would expect them to say it, since they were singing about God in the first place.

Following the precedent that the words set last year, organiser Edwin Musiime could have done with a bigger venue. However, he still opted to have it in Victoria Hall, at Serena Hotel.true

The previous glamorous gospel awards definitely did a lot in motivating the gospel music industry. This time, we had a bigger number of musicians being nominated in the same category.

The turn-up was as good as expected, only that due to the over-flow, some had to stand.

In a number of categories, the winners were the usual suspects, Exodus, Julie Mutesasira and Jackie Ssenyonjo and Judith Babirye scooping the awards.

Aroma Band beat Kwela Band in the best band category. Baby Gloria was beaten to the children’s category, by a little tammy, which isn’t little anymore.

Exodus, Morgan Isaac and Channel 44 T.V retained their awards in the “Best contemporary, Best Dance Hall and Best TV show categories respectively.

Speaking of Exodus, for the second time in a row, he was absent for his award.

Perhaps the biggest upset of the night was Pastor Anthony Bugembe walking away empty-handed for all the acclaim his song “Bilibabitya” got despite being nominated in four categories.

This leaves us with the deduction that perhaps the people who actually listen to him are not the ones who actually get to vote.

He was nominated in the “Song of the year”, and “Best Video award” and was beaten by Julie Mutesasira and Jackie Ssenyonjo respectively. 

In the “Male artiste of the year” category, he was also beaten by a lesser known Coopy Bly. Winners were given cash prizes and sponsored trips to destinations of their choice. true.

Jackie Ssenyonjo must have been the happiest of all nominees of the evening as she walked away with two awards: Best female artiste and the best video award.

Apparently, Pablo’s wife is also an artiste and was one of the performers of the night when she stepped on stage to do her thing.

Pablo just had to be the Pablo that he is. He joined his wife on stage, gave her a flower before becoming her king dancer, prompting bouts of laughter among the crowds.

With all the good live performances from renowned artistes and an impromptu one from Juliana Kanyomozi, it seemed a perfect night.

It totally did meet expectations.