Diana Chapman and One Dan were among the Linden musicians who were recognised for their work over the past year when the Linden Music Awards show was held last Saturday.
Of the winners, four recipients walked away with two awards each. They were: Chapman, who copped the ‘Calypsonian of the Year’ and ‘Soca Song of the Year’ awards; One Dan, who took home ‘Best New Dancehall Artiste of the Year’ and ‘People’s Choice’ awards; Director Dex, who picked up awards in the categories ‘Linden Music Ambassador Award 2021’ and ‘Music Video Director of the Year;’ and Davy Marley, who won for ‘Best Music Video of the Year’ and ‘Collaboration of the Year’, which was an award he shared with artiste Azariel.
The other awards went to Deanna DeSouza, who won ‘Best Female Gospel Artiste;’ Double G, who won ‘Best Male Gospel Artiste;’ Anfernee Duke, who won ‘Musician of the Year;’ Best, who won ‘Reggae Artiste of the Year;’ GT Youths, who won ‘Songwriter of the Year;’ Aaliyah ‘Selector Bruuutal’ Dey, who won ‘Female DJ of the Year;’ Milcah Garraway, who won ‘Best Cover Remix;’ Lashawn Banz, who won ‘Contemporary Artiste of the Year;’ Epic Dynamic Dance Group, which won ‘Dance Choreography of the Year;’ Linden Drum Corp, which won the ‘Children’s Band’ award; Boom Bread, who won ‘Radio DJ of the Year;’ Quelly Ranks, who won ‘Dancehall DJ of the Year;’ Mafi, who won ‘Dancehall Artiste of the Year;’ 9TK-Lost n Found, who won ‘R&B + HipHop Song of the Year;’ Dr. J Lyrics of Code R3d Records, who won for ‘Music Producer of the Year;’ and Ego, who won the ‘Social Media Influencer’ award.
The Linden Music Awards also bestowed the ‘Denis Parkinson Lifetime Achievement Award’ on three persons – Tiny Dougan, Winston ‘Zar’ Caesar, and Fojo.
Chapman, who was nominated in six categories, said she was delighted that her hard work in the music industry was recognised. While she went on to win in two categories, the artiste at the awards show decided she wanted to share the ‘Calypsonian of the Year’ award with Ego who she believes is also deserving of the award as according to the singer, she felt like his songs outdid hers for two consecutive years.
“[Meanwhile], Soca Song of the Year, I was happy to win that award because ‘Stage’ (the song for which she was awarded) has been doing really well this year. I’ve performed it on many stages. I was very excited to win that award more than any other award. I’m definitely grateful for the wins that I have received from the Linden Music Awards. And, I’m [thankful] to Linden for always supporting me and for giving us that love and support that will continue to motivate us to continue working hard every single year,” an elated Chapman said.
Chapman earlier this year entered ‘Stage’ in the Calypso Monarch Competition and finished in second position.
Ego, who also spoke with The Scene, said winning the ‘Social Media Influencer’ award was “beyond a great feeling” and added that in spite of being nominated, he didn’t expect to have emerged the winner. The Calypso singer, who is always on Facebook engaging fans in funny videos, noted that he is still reeling from fans commending him for a good job done. Ego has been on the music scene for some nine years now and took up drama more than two years ago.
Speaking of the event, Ego said, “The Linden Music Awards… has become motivation for Linden artistes, whether you are a singer, dancer or in drama…. This year the award show was beyond remarkable and kudos to the organisers for such an event.”
Coordinator of the event, Devin Sears, shared that this year’s event saw a better attendance compared to last year when the show made its debut amidst the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. He noted that the show followed COVID-19 protocols.
Sears disclosed that the judging panel consisted of Michael James, Janelle Arthur and DJ Dan Hype, whose experience in the music industry qualified them to decide who the winners would be. Sears commended the judges on their work, while noting that they had their work cut out for them as not all artistes had their work on social media.
According to Sears, while the winners were well received, there were some upsets, particularly for overseas-based artistes who made the trip to Guyana for the event only to learn they did not win an award. “I think there are some areas that we can improve on but we can only get better in time. 2022 is going to be an amazing year. Following the awards, we’ve observed already a lot of the artistes are already working on new material as they understand that the judging has just begun [again] and is going to last for an entire year [until the next awards show]. The artistes are in a competitive mode in getting their material out. We are going to be working with them as a tourism committee and try to give them the exposure that they need….,” Sears said.
He added that some of the good things that came out of the show were that they recognised persons’ talents and efforts as well as persons receiving more bookings because of the exposure, particularly DJ Aaliyah Dey.
Sears said plans are in place to have persons nominated in 30 categories instead of 25 for the next awards show. In addition, Sears said that in January he will be part of a team working towards having a weekly billboard chart featuring the top ten songs by Region Ten artistes. He is confident it will be a huge motivation for artistes from the region.
Meanwhile, Sears acknowledged their sponsors, including Banks DIH, GT&T, Unicomer, The Linden Fund USA, Divine Entertainment, Ministry of Tourism Industry and Commerce, Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA), for making the event a success.
Among the prominent persons in attendance at the event were Chairperson for the Board of Directors of the Guyana Tourism Authority Aubrey Major; Regional Member of Parliament Jermaine Figueira; Mayor of Linden Waneka Arrindale; and Outdoor Events Manager for Banks DIH Mortimer Stewart.
The awards show, which was hosted live, can still be viewed on the Region 10 Tourism Committee’s Facebook page.
