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Yvonne to honour artists

Yvonne Chaka Chaka
Yvonne Chaka Chaka

MUSIC diva Yvonne Chaka Chaka wants to honour and acknowledge session and backing artists with an awards ceremony.

The Awards for Backing Vocals and Session Musicians will be officially launched on October 22 at the State Theatre in Pretoria. The awards are scheduled to take place in 2015 and more details will be revealed at the launch.

Chaka Chaka has been toying with the idea for 10 years. She said she realised that some of the people who contribute to the success of albums were not honoured.

Without revealing much, she mentioned that she was inspired by musicians like Mandisa Dlanga, Beulah Hashe and Faith Kekana.

Dlanga has backed Chaka Chaka herself and Johnny Clegg, while Hashe and Kekana have backed Letta Mbulu and Caiphus Semenya.

"Session artists have to be recognised because they contribute a lot to selling albums. When an album sells gold and multi-platinum, these people get nothing," she said.

Chaka Chaka said the awards will be different because she wants the winners to go to disadvantaged communities to teach young people how to play various musical instruments.

"The aim is to open young minds to the reality that not everybody is destined to be a star. They need to understand that you can carve out a successful career as a backing or session artist.

"If it was not for these backing and session artists, we would not have had stars like Brenda Fassie."

The awards are a collaboration between Chaka Chaka Promotions, Princess of Africa Foundation, the City of Tshwane and the Southern African Music Rights Organisation.

She said when many funders shot down her idea, she vowed to continue.

"I will also be using my money to fund the awards because I just could not wait longer to get more funding."

 

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