Crazy stuff went down at the Sun City Superbowl on Saturday, 11 May 2013.
For Toya Delazy who had kicked off the evening with a high octane performance alongside rapper Reason, the awards for Newcomer of the Year and Best Pop Album serve as confirmation of her newly found status in the industry after a breakout year in 2012 with her debut hit album, Due Drop Deluxe. Jax Panix scooped the Best Producer award the previous night for his work on Toya’s album.
The outrageously talented Khuli Chana finally had his moment to shine in the spotlight as all the years of hard work finally paid off for the former Motswako protégé as he took home the coveted Best Male Artist, Best Rap Album and Album of the Year awards.
Multi award winning Afro-fusion group Freshlyground scooped what must be fast becoming a familiar statuette for Duo or Group of the Year, further cementing their place as music royalty in South Africa.
The fiercely contested Female Artist of the Year award saw songbird Kelly Khumalo beat off stiff competition from a very talented field.
The almost three hour long show witnessed some unique and iconic collaborations from amongst others Zonke and Kabomo, ChianoSky with DJ Zinhle ft. Busiswa, Bobby van Jaarsveld with Oskido ft. Candy, Zozo & Sangere Superbeat, Desmond & The Tutus with Kabelo, Professor, Sfiso and Khaya ft. Proverb, Donald, Lira and crowd pleasers DJ Vetkuk & Mahoota ft. Dr Malinga & Manqoba amongst others.
The guest presenters on stage to hand over the awards were some of the leading names in the entertainment industry: Rapulana Seiphemo, Tsholo Monedi, Gareth Cliff, Zahara, Loyiso Bala, Tailor, Pearl Thusi, Tumi Morake, Theo Kgosinkwe, Nhlanhla Nciza, Zolisa Xaluva, Glen Lewis, Tumi Morake, Greg Carlin and Thami Mgqolo. An emotional tribute to artists and other industry players that have passed on during the last year was movingly performed by Bongeziwe Mabandla, Nina Schumann, Steve Dyer, Herbie Tsoaeli and CH2 over a visual montage of these fallen icons.
The Album of the Year medley was one of the major highlights of the star studded night as Khuli Chana, Kelly Khumalo, Maleh, Ntokozo Mbambo and The Muffinz took to the stage and left the over 5 000 strong crowd in rapturous applause. It was then left to the popular Menzi Ngubane and Sophie Ndaba to close off the night and present the coveted Album of the Year to an utterly surprised Khuli Chana.
