THE year 2013 is coming to an end and everyone is looking back from January up to this moment for the highlights of the year. We also look at some of the moments that were interesting in the world of music in 2013.

One of the hottest issues of the year was the staging of the inaugural Zambian Music Awards (ZAMA) sponsored by Zambian Breweries (ZB) Plc under the Mosi Lager brand.

The ZAMA awards preparations started towards the last quarter of 2012 to reward the artistic works of the last seven years dating back from 2012.

The awards were received with mixed feelings as some well-known musicians in the likes of Brian Chengala Shakarongo challenged the National Arts Council (NAC) and ZB on the much publicised advert that claimed the awards were the first in Zambia.

Shakarongo argued that in the 1980s similar awards were held and he was part of the organising team.

The call to drop the inaugural tag to the awards failed as organisers and their sponsors never responded to the calls although the biggest outcry was when Slap D walked away with five awards on the night.

Macky 2 was the darling of the year and was expected to beat his nemesis Slap D but poor voting from the former’s fans resulted in the Kuichaila singer sweeping five out eight awards he was nominated for.

With the nomination period closed for this year’s awards, we hope fans will vote for the most happening acts to avoid what happened last year.

In 2012, after a long time we saw three sold-out album launches by Macky 2, JK and Petersen all at the outdoor Barclays Sports Complex, a feat that we haven’t seen this year, apart from what I termed the concert of the year that saw celebrated African superstars P Square gracing the Zamtel 100 years’ celebrations.

Initially, everyone was looking forward to see Sean Paul in Ndola but P Square’s concert was the highlight of the year.

Woodlands Stadium was a hive of activities on October 18, as scores of music lovers, including fans from Botswana and Zimbabwe, converged there to be part of a concert that would be the musical highlight of the year for Zambia.

The show might have been punctuated by poor security and small venue, but truth ought to be told, the performance and atmosphere was simply classic and worth the fuss.

Had Sean Paul’s show taken place; I don’t think it could have attracted as much crowd as the P Square one.

In this same year we had several international artistes visiting Zambia – Ice Prince, Davido, Koffi Olomide, Werrason, Dr Malinga, Luciano, Ras Zachari, Mbilia Bel, Rabecca Malope and Don Moen, just to mention a few.

The P Square show might be the concert of the year but nothing can be taken away from another epic performance from gospel great Don Moen whose Blessings Centre Praise and Worship concert was a marvel to be part of.

Despite not having a big concert from any Zambian artiste this year, the country found some space on the African musical map as Zone Fam scooped this year’s Channel O Music Video Awards as the Best Group.

Though the win was big for Zambia after several attempts at winning recognised honours, nothing much came from the promoters of the group,

Zambia Association of Musicians (ZAM) or the National Arts Council (NAC) was done to have a dignified celebration of such a great feat in the history of Zambian music, especially that the group managed to beat the likes of D’Banji.

Zone Fam are not as popular as some of the contemporary artistes that we have but their music and videos have been accepted internationally, an achievement that not only needs to be appreciated but also supported by all well-meaning Zambians.

To sum up the 2013 musical highlights, not so many albums were produced but among those that were on the market, B Flow’s Voiceless Woman and the Sakala Brothers’ Born in Matero are some of the collections that should not miss in one’s collection for 2013.

We are looking forward to the year 2014 for more sold-out concerts, good albums, organised awards and international breakthrough music from our artistes.

Merry Christmas and a prosperous 2014!

For comments and contributions, cleverzulu21@zambia.co.zm or 0955 388 441