Kabelo Eric nominated for Kora award

Local Gospel star Kabelo Eric has been nominated for Africa’s most lucrative and arguably most prestigious, Kora music awards scheduled for 20 March in Windhoek, Namibia.

The 30 year-old ‘Ae Phethehe Thato Ya Hao’ hitmaker will battle it out for best male artist- Spiritual music- with other Africa’s finest, being D-Naff (Namibia), Hatim Ammor (Morocco), Kidum (Burundi), Eugen Ablodevi (Togo) and Eddy Kamoso (Burundi).

In an interview with The Midweek Sun, Eric could not hide his joy. “It’s a great achievement to be nominated among Africa’s top artists. I look forward to networking with them and to also explore collaborations, especially with Nigerian artists,” he said.

He is requesting Batswana to vote for him, and that they should check his Facebook page for the procedure. Winners from every category will go home with the coveted Kora trophies and cash prizes of US$20 000 or US$50 000, and a mammoth $1 000 000 cheque for the Best Artist of the Continent, the nominees for which are yet to be revealed.

Unlike the majority of African music awards that tend to focus on the larger music industries of Nigeria and South Africa, for example, the Kora selection panel has gone out of their way to include musicians from across the continent.

In this way musicians from smaller nations like Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Djibouti, Eritrea and Madagascar also get their chance to compete.