PSquare wins
Prior to the Soundcity Music Video Awards of November 20, its organisers generated a lot of hype about the calibre of the event they were planning to unfold. The major gist was how different this show was going to be from prior SMVAs and also from other award shows in the country. "We are aiming for international standards," CEO of Consolidated Media, owner of the Soundcity brand, Tajudeen Adeputu was quoted as saying.
The show started with the ubiquitous red carpet which the SMVAs had transformed to a fashion show hosted by Spice TV, the lifestyle channel and sister brand to Soundcity. The red carpet was opened only to holders of the VVIP ticket sold at N100,000 and special guests. The dramatically and beautifully lit runway which was hoisted at the poolside of the Eko Hotel and Suites, Lagos, featured designs from top fashion houses across Africa, especially Nigeria. There were exquisite designs from Lanre Da Silva-Ajayi, Tiffany Amber and Dax Martin from South Africa, amongst others.
The award show proper which was held at the Expo Hall of the same hotel started at about 11pm.
Uti the host
The event started with a performance from P-Square, backed by a high-octane dance routine from dancer, Kaffy. The announcer soon introduced the host and Big Brother All-Stars winner, Uti Nwachukwu. Heralded by bikini clad females and himself in glittering metallic overalls, Uti's entrance aimed for the dramatic but only marginally achieved it. (To balance the bikini-clad females, at another point during the show, bikini-clad males accompanied Adaora, host of MTN Project Fame on stage to present an award.) There had been some sceptics on the choice of Uti as host. However, with the sarcastic wit he displayed on Big Brother, his supporters felt he was worthy. At the end of the day, both sides of the debate came out justified. He had his high and low moments but there was nothing of the spectacular, either good or bad.
Unlike last year's show where the sound quality was held in question, this year it was loud and clear. For those on the balcony who were not able to feel the raw excitement from the well-lit stage (the downside of VIP area), there were small screens in strategic corners there and also huge ones on the walls of the hall that transmitted high definition images. The camera and video-editing crew did a pretty good hands-on job as there was no way one could have missed what was happening on stage or the power of it.
There were however awkward moments brought on by the absence of quite a number of award recipients. Presenters were often left standing aimlessly on the stage after announcing a winner's name without any clue of what to do with the award. When this happened to Fred Amata who had to present the award for Viewers Choice won by Buffalo Souljah for ‘Ezandlha Phezulu', he called on Zaaki "the man from Benue to collect the award for the man from Zimbabwe". This inspired move was accepted gamely by Zaaki and brought on amused chuckles from the audience.
The performances
Still going for big and over the top, the SMVAs had contracted almost all the big names in Nigerian entertainment and one or two from Ghana and South Africa to give life performances. Even so, each staged performance depended entirely on the artists as there were little or no stage effects provided by the organisers. The best performances came from Sasha P, Asa and Whiz Kid who displayed some mean dance skills. D'Banj and the Mo'Hits crew were literal crowd pullers as they (especially after D'Banj and Don Jazzy appeared) managed to get people off their seats and to the bottom of the stage where they roared out their love for the Koko Master. The show all but ended there as most people left the hall in D'Banj's wake, leaving very few to witness Timaya, the last performer, give his usual energetic routine.
From the lights, cameras and stage and hall models, one thing was evident about the SMVAs 2010: a lot of money, effort and attention to detail were put in to this particular event, even starting way back from the runway on the red carpet. But as Julius Agwu who was an award presenter noted, it was sadly a solo project from Consolidated Media with no input from external sponsors.
Although, the SMVAs is still far from what is seen at international awards, especially at the "average" televised American award show, its ambitions were clear. At this stage, it is only fair to say that if Soundcity continues to set such high standards for themselves, they will one day surpass even these so-called international standards.
Source:234nex
The show started with the ubiquitous red carpet which the SMVAs had transformed to a fashion show hosted by Spice TV, the lifestyle channel and sister brand to Soundcity. The red carpet was opened only to holders of the VVIP ticket sold at N100,000 and special guests. The dramatically and beautifully lit runway which was hoisted at the poolside of the Eko Hotel and Suites, Lagos, featured designs from top fashion houses across Africa, especially Nigeria. There were exquisite designs from Lanre Da Silva-Ajayi, Tiffany Amber and Dax Martin from South Africa, amongst others.
The award show proper which was held at the Expo Hall of the same hotel started at about 11pm.
Uti the host
The event started with a performance from P-Square, backed by a high-octane dance routine from dancer, Kaffy. The announcer soon introduced the host and Big Brother All-Stars winner, Uti Nwachukwu. Heralded by bikini clad females and himself in glittering metallic overalls, Uti's entrance aimed for the dramatic but only marginally achieved it. (To balance the bikini-clad females, at another point during the show, bikini-clad males accompanied Adaora, host of MTN Project Fame on stage to present an award.) There had been some sceptics on the choice of Uti as host. However, with the sarcastic wit he displayed on Big Brother, his supporters felt he was worthy. At the end of the day, both sides of the debate came out justified. He had his high and low moments but there was nothing of the spectacular, either good or bad.
Unlike last year's show where the sound quality was held in question, this year it was loud and clear. For those on the balcony who were not able to feel the raw excitement from the well-lit stage (the downside of VIP area), there were small screens in strategic corners there and also huge ones on the walls of the hall that transmitted high definition images. The camera and video-editing crew did a pretty good hands-on job as there was no way one could have missed what was happening on stage or the power of it.
There were however awkward moments brought on by the absence of quite a number of award recipients. Presenters were often left standing aimlessly on the stage after announcing a winner's name without any clue of what to do with the award. When this happened to Fred Amata who had to present the award for Viewers Choice won by Buffalo Souljah for ‘Ezandlha Phezulu', he called on Zaaki "the man from Benue to collect the award for the man from Zimbabwe". This inspired move was accepted gamely by Zaaki and brought on amused chuckles from the audience.
The performances
Still going for big and over the top, the SMVAs had contracted almost all the big names in Nigerian entertainment and one or two from Ghana and South Africa to give life performances. Even so, each staged performance depended entirely on the artists as there were little or no stage effects provided by the organisers. The best performances came from Sasha P, Asa and Whiz Kid who displayed some mean dance skills. D'Banj and the Mo'Hits crew were literal crowd pullers as they (especially after D'Banj and Don Jazzy appeared) managed to get people off their seats and to the bottom of the stage where they roared out their love for the Koko Master. The show all but ended there as most people left the hall in D'Banj's wake, leaving very few to witness Timaya, the last performer, give his usual energetic routine.
From the lights, cameras and stage and hall models, one thing was evident about the SMVAs 2010: a lot of money, effort and attention to detail were put in to this particular event, even starting way back from the runway on the red carpet. But as Julius Agwu who was an award presenter noted, it was sadly a solo project from Consolidated Media with no input from external sponsors.
Although, the SMVAs is still far from what is seen at international awards, especially at the "average" televised American award show, its ambitions were clear. At this stage, it is only fair to say that if Soundcity continues to set such high standards for themselves, they will one day surpass even these so-called international standards.
Source:234nex
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