Diana Chapman has been nominated in six categories for this year’s Linden Music Awards, hosted by the Region Ten Tourism Committee, and slated for next Saturday at Shanghai’s Residence, Linden. The event will see a number of talented Lindeners being awarded for their various contributions to the music industry.
There are 25 categories and the nominees are:
Best Female Gospel Artiste — Deanna Desouza with “Great Are You Lord”
Best Male Gospel Artiste — Clement, Double G, and Roddrick Allicock
Musician of the Year — Anfernee Duke
Reggae Artiste of the Year — Best and Rawlo
Calypsonian of the Year — Diana Chapman and Ego
Songwriter of the Year — GT Youths and Roddrick Allicock
Female DJ of the Year — Aaliyah ‘Selector Brutal’ Dey
Best Cover Remix — Milcah Garraway
Linden Music Ambassador Award 2021 — Gucci Boss, Gt Youths, Mafi, Diana Chapman, Brandon Harding and Director Dex
Best New Dancehall Song of the Year — One Dann, Dann Boss, Malo Dan, Tev Audio, FFN Mario and Young Clay
Contemporary Artiste of the Year — Diana Chapman, Lashawn, King Drac, Ominelle Joseph Hawker, and Trevon Vibes
Denis Parkinson Lifetime Achievement Award — Tiny Dougan
Dance Choreography of the Year — Epic Dynamic Dance Group
Children’s Band Award — Linden Drum Corps
Radio DJ of the Year) — Fearless, Boom Bread, Vibes King, Andrew and Quelly Ranks
Dancehall DJ of the Year — Quelly Ranks, Bad Boyz, Boom Bread and Vibes King
Music Video Director of the Year — Director Dex and Lashawn Banz
Collaboration of the Year — Azariel X Davy Marley for “Plug Out”, Mr Gennesiz X Calvin Burnett for “Can’t Get Me Down”, King Drac X Milcah Garraway, GT Youths X OG Marley, and Banz for “SAD” Ft. DDZ x Slick Kid Malik
R&B and HipHop Song of the Year — Diana Chapman, Lashawn Banz, YNR Rees X YNR Ajura and 9TK for “Lost n Found”
Music Producer of the Year — Dr J Lyrics (Code R3d Records), Timon Fraser (Fraser Records), Original Lyrics Studio, Lashawn Banz and King Drac
Music Video of the Year — Davy Marley’s “Mike Tyson”, OneDan’s “Cold World”, Daan Chorus’s “Dawg Life”, TevAudio’s “No”, FFN Mario, Juice, Sickboss’s “Send Dem Out” Gucci Boss’s “Roll Out” and Mafi’s “Speak Fluent”
Soca Song of the Year — Diana Chapman’s “Stage” and Brandon Harding’s “We Belong”
People’s Choice Award — Mafi, Davy Marley, One Dann, Dann Chorus, GT Youths and Diana Chapman
Dancehall Artiste of the Year — Mafi, Davy Marley, One Dann and GT Youths
Social Media Influencer Award — Baby Skello and Ego.
In cases where only one person has been nominated that person automatically wins the award.
Some of the nominees reside overseas, but will be present for the awards show. All of the nominees are Lindeners. The winners will be selected by a small anonymous committee made up of Lindeners who have a background in music.
Despite the pandemic, the music awards was first held in a physical setting last November and will again be hosted in a physical setting abiding by all COVID guidelines. Those in attendance are required to show proof of being fully vaccinated or present a negative PCR or antigen test.
Initially, the event was to coincide with Regional Tourism Month (November), according to Chairman of the Region 10 Committee Devin Sears (MP), one of the coordinators. However, owing to the unavailability of the venue, it was pushed back to December 4.
“With recognition comes encouragement so while we are giving recognition to these artistes, there are hundreds in Linden and region 10 that are not yet exposed but this (awards show) will serve as great motivation for them,” Sears said. “But, this year compared to last year, we have a lot of upcoming artistes that we are working with. For these two weeks, all of the artistes that have been nominated are being interviewed on the radio station, their material is being rotated so they are getting the publicity that they so need at this point in time.”
He hopes the Linden Music Awards, though there will always remain a Linden Music Awards, will encourage the larger music body in Guyana to host national music awards.
As a member of parliament, Sears said, he hopes to make a bigger impact on behalf of local artistes to see the copyright law modernised so that artistes can start benefiting from royalties. He said he will use his seat in parliament to make a difference as it is not about politics for him, but development.
Sears said that since the last music awards, the nomination committee has been paying close attention to who has been delivering in the music business. However, he noted that the committee had some trouble finding some of the artistes’ content as they are not available on social media. He added that artistes are being encouraged to share their music on social media as it is the way the world is going now.
Meanwhile, the nomination committee is not responsible for choosing the People’s Choice awardee; this will be dependent on the public. He posited that this award will most likely go to the artiste who has managed to keep fans engaged even on social media.
“I’ve been in the music industry for years, since 2011 when I got back to Linden,” Sears said. “I had a company called Devin Entertainment which is one of the sponsors for this show. We worked with many artistes. One of the things we always complained about is that the artiste is not getting recognition. So instead of waiting for the authorities or other people to recognize us, let’s recognize ourselves. And, I believe that is what the music industry needs, that sort of togetherness… Unlike Jamaica and Trinidad, in Guyana you go out there, sing a song, people like it, jam to it but the only time you get paid is really when you have a stage performance… Now there is hardly any stage to perform at, no major events happening except for virtual shows. Just like how in the education system, you have learning loss because the kids are not going to school or they are not getting the necessary attention, we can have a serious gap when it comes to entertainment if we don’t maintain and give them that encouragement that they need and that drive to produce more, to do better, to improve their craft. Because, when the pandemic is over, we want to skyrocket.”
Noting Chapman’s six nominations, Sears said this was a testament to her dedication and hardwork.
The Linden Music Awards is a red carpet event and all in attendance are expected to dress in black attire. It starts at 4 pm with cocktails leading to the awards ceremony at 7 pm.
With the event arranged to cater for social distancing, there is limited seating available, which will be saved for nominees and special invitees. As such, the event will be hosted live on 105.1 Boom FM, NCN and the Region Ten Tourism Committee’s Facebook page.
Those interested in voting for the People’s Choice Award can do so by clicking this link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdLzGYe5Inv82k3he_Iuxq1w3c3fDpFIxojWFleqc1vaXPwzg/viewform?usp=sf_link.
