Langalakhe Mabena
Afro Soul and new school musician Mncedisi “MJ Sings” Ncube is floating on top of the cream after being nominated three times at this year’s Roil Bulawayo Arts Awards (RoilBAA) which are slated for 24 December at a red-carpet event, at the Large City Hall.
The Prince of Soul’s hit banger Koloyi got him nominated for Song of the Year, Outstanding Music Video, adding on to the Outstanding House/Kwaito/Dance Artiste category.
He is the most nominated artiste alongside Msiz’ Kay (also nominated three times).
The softspoken wordsmith said he now has a reason to buy new clothes for Christmas, as he believes he will be the main attraction at the awards ceremony on Christmas Eve.
“This is a great gesture from RoilBAA to nominate me three times. It’s all because of the effort I put during the course of the year, the love from my fans who nominated me and mostly God’s testimony of doing good things in my life,” said MJ Sings.
Earlier on this year, MJ Sings opened up about depression and the state of his mental health, which attracted many people and professionals (psychologists) to help him out.
His cry for help healed him as he managed to remove the burden off his shoulders, heal and focus full time on his music career which saw him staging numerous one-man performances around Bulawayo on sold out events, not typical of a Bulawayo creative.
His latest gig, the Spring Fiesta, which was staged on 15 October at the National Gallery in Bulawayo, was also sold out, cementing his three nominations at the RoilBAA.
He is grateful for the love he received from the fans and he prays they exercise the same energy when the RoilBAA voting lines open.
“It (Springs Fiesta) was a great launch and every act delivered high quality performances as promised. It was so overwhelming to see the event which started as a dream, coming to fruition.
“I was worried about the attendance as the gig clashed with the Sanganai/Hlanganani Expo bash which had Big Zulu and Costa Titch as the main acts as well as the One Night gig with Oskido at Cosmopolitan. But fans kept on reminding me that they will pull through and they surely did.
“Their loyalty convinced me that the narrative of Bulawayo not supporting its own is a false account that was projected to us and sadly we have believed it. The gig was a wake-up call not only to me and my partners DAB Three Events, but to the rest of Bulawayo creatives and promoters,” said MJ Sings.
Despite the nominations, MJ Sings is not planning to stop his grind.
“I have a couple of projects lined up before the year ends and definitely another event in December to close the year. After that I will be getting ready to launch my first-ever album,” said MJ Sings.
