George da Soulchild Kaufela, co-presenter of our highly successful weekly Sunday night radio show on Zambezi 107.7 fm forwarded this piece for the blog. Thanks George!

It’s been a great year for the Zambian music industry! More artists have come on board and more have become household names. Some artists have simply maintained their status while others have lost out and their names and music are slowly fading “back into black”. Here’s a look at selected months, artists and events from 2012.

March 2012
‘Hip-Hop Crisis’ attended the 54th Grammy Awards in LA saying it was a good thing because it helped expose the international community to Zambian music. The local hip hop artist said “the thing about such events is that you get to meet people and as time goes by, you start crossing paths and you get familiar with each other, and that’s how you build relations.¨

May 2012
Zambia’s Mampi (above) became the first celebrity to be evicted from the Big Brother Africa 2012 house. The 25-year-old singer said a lot of pretense was required for one to win the US$300,000 reality show. “I feel the same, I’m happy that I went in at the time I went in and came out at the time I came out. Being there, I saw what is required, you actually have to pretend. If you don’t pretend, you can’t win. I knew I was not going to win because I am not the type that pretends,” Mampi said. Mampi did however manage to mesmerize Big Brother Star Games viewers with her signature dance moves.
Meanwhile Africa Magic has announced Big Brother Season 8 details will be out in mid-January 2013.

June 2012
Petersen took a shot at politicians and released his highly anticipated controversial album JOB 13:13. The most controversial song on the album “Makwabo Mu Church” translates as ‘Business Conducted in the House Of God’ and it brought about plenty of talking points! Petersen explained that he did not understand why so many churches conduct business in the house of God. To him, if a church announcement says ‘brother Chilembo is selling his car for a negotiable price’ or ‘Sister Betty will be hosting a fundraising braii at church’, that is trading in the house of God and that is why he is exhorting the return of Jesus Christ to whip these offenders!

Still in June
Emeli Sande born from Zambian father (Joel Sande) and English Mother (Diane Sande) won the 2012 UKZAMBIANS Excellence Awards Female Vocalist/Songwriter of the Year Award. Adele Emeli Sandé (born 10 March 1988: Alford, Aberdeenshire, Scotland) known by her stage name Emeli Sandé, is a soul and R&B recording artist and songwriter. A former medical student, Sandé has achieved two top 10 singles in the UK. Her debut album, Our Version Of Events, is nailed on for No1 in the UK and critics across the board have voted her the voice of 2012. Emeli Sandé has written hits for some of the biggest names in the music business, including Cheryl Cole, Tinie Tempah and Susan Boyle. Her album ‘Our Version Of Events’, ended the year top of the UK album Charts. We long to see her at home in Zambia!

October
Zambian rap artist Ruff Kid becomes the second artist from Zambia to be awarded the prestigious BEFFTA Award. Ruff Kid was nominated under the category for Best international Act at this year’s BEFFTA awards. Other nominees in the same category included Camp Mula, D’Banj, Cover Drive, Grace Galaxy and Zahara.
Ruff Kid in his acceptance speech said: “This is all down to my fans and supporters. My management and I have been working tirelessly asking people to support and vote, and this is proof that every vote counts. I am just grateful that people took the time to vote and support me, I am also grateful to God for providing me with such an amazing opportunity and the BEFFTA Awards for recognizing my work”

November
ZNBC director general Chibamba Kanyama apologized for the institution’s latest failure to meet viewer expectations during the 2012 Born n Bred Music Video Awards ceremony held at Lusaka’s Government Complex and promised to do better in the future. While Macky2 won three out of the five categories in which he was nominated. B1’s ‘Sikiliti’ won radio’s most popular song of the year.

December
Slap Dee’s ‘Kuichayila’ voted song on the year for the year 2012 by listeners on five different radio station including Zambezi FM Radio. The Lusaka based rapper who is leader of one of the most popular hip-hop Groups ‘XYZ’ recently ended his beef with a certain named Copperbelt rapper. At some point last year he (Slap Dee) lost his grip on the local scene as the Copperbelt rapper made more headlines and received more airplay than he did.

2013 will, without a doubt, be a very competitive year on the local music scene as most artists ,music producers, music video editors/producers seek international recognition.