Summary:
- County has the most incredible talents we've seen so far.
- Artists blame the media for not having reached out for them yet.
- Given time, Malindi may just take over the Coastal Entertainment Industry.
So, as you may be aware by now, our crew is visiting most of the Counties in this Coastal region. Our intention is to reach out to that artist/model/dancer/poet/photographer somewhere who really has what it takes to bag an award, but may fail to get it due to lack of information. As Pwani Celebrity Awards, we have taken the initiative to help such people. We have been to Kilifi and yesterday, our stop was Malindi County.
Now, most of us know Malindi as the dream destination; a tourism centre; from the tropical beaches, beautiful scenery, favourable climatic conditions friendly people and all that. But aside from that, has anyone ever taken the time to explore the talents this little Italian town possesses? Our team was on a mission yesterday and they left no stone unturned. All thanks to the cooperation by the artists from that area.
To start with, Pwani Celebrity Awards did not have to mobilise them in any way. No. They did that themselves. That is how organized they are. All we did was give them the date on which we had planned to visit. The rest was taken care of by them; including finding the right venue.
To our surprise, most the names they used to introduce themselves sounded so familiar to us all. Maybe we had seen them on the nominations being sent to our email or something. Also, most of them already had an understanding of how the criteria worked, giving us a very easy time while there. In fact, our team let them educate themselves about the show. All we did was give guidelines where we found necessary.
It took us just thirty minutes of talk about this year's show. We explained to them how things will work and how we plan to involve them. They were all pleased by this gesture; having an Award Show of such calibre as Pwani Celebrity Awards coming all the way to where they are, having a personal touch with them; just listening to them, their stories, achievements, failures and all and advising them in all ways possible.
We then asked them about the challenges they face and how best they would wish us to help. Top on the list was that same old one; that that we are all used to hearing upcoming artists complain about-limited airplay. To us, this was justified. We will tell you why. Keep reading. The other one is not really a challenge to them for they claim to have learned to embrace it. They said that most of this Award Show seem to be only focused on Mombasa. They cited a few examples, even our very own Pwani Celebrity Awards. This too was justified. Most of the award shows we have around just focus on Mombasa. No one cares about Kwale or Voi. Pwani Celebrity Awards plead guilty as charged. Yes. We have been forgetting about the other towns, but there is still room for change. Yesterday's visit was intended to prove that. We vowed to help change the mind-set of most artists from this great region.
After we were done with our conference, the artists took us to their studio. It was surprisingly close to our meeting point. Just three minutes away. Perhaps they picked for us that venue on purpose. Smart move. In their studio, Finetune Records, they had us sample their music and also experience how their day to day lives ran. We were amazed by the incredible talents they had and how brotherly they were; all the artists from Malindi working as a unit; same studio, same equipment, same time-something that not even Mombasa has been able to achieve. If it were up to us, we would have just awarded them this year's Awards there and then. They deserve that and more.
Now, when we were leaving, we promised to help solve some of the challenges they face. The first one being that of limited airplay. We vowed to help market their music (for free) in all ways possible. Whether or not they deserve that which they ask for, you will be the judge. Fortunately, with us were some reporters from The Kilifian Magazine, Pulse and some from Ebru Tv who may also be giving their version of this edition.
Stay tuned for details about our next stop.
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