SBC Paradise FM hosts third music award show |31 December 2021

The third SBC Paradise FM Awards took place at Buckinarms Palace, Au Cap yesterday evening.

The star-studded event saw eleven different categories of awards being presented to deserving artists who have kept music fans moving and grooving between October 2020 and September 2021.

Daniel claimed the award for Best newcomer in a category featuring himself, Lauren, Nene and Josh Wilds, although his award was collected by fellow artist Auspicious. The pair were also awarded in the Most Requested Male artist category. The category included the likes of Travis with ‘Plis ki plis’, MV Omega and Riggid’s ‘Memwar’, Mercenary with ‘Miss Photogenic’ and Richie B’s ‘Dimoun i koz ou’.

Newcomer Lauren clinched the award for Most Requested Female Artist, amid a tough category of experienced female artists, featuring Telsy, Michelle Marengo, Lauren, Sly and Ronnia. She took the opportunity to thank all who have supported her along her musical journey thus far.

The Public Appreciation Award was for the most appreciated tracks, and those which have persisted on the charts for a few weeks. Among the nominees for the category were Mervin Camille with ‘Aret Koz Mwan’, Travis with ‘Si Ou Ale’, Liba’s ‘Ale si ou le’ among others. Crowd-favourite Travis’ ‘Si ou ale’ clinched the public appreciation award in the end.

Also awarded on the night was the Most entries for male artists for which there were two contenders – Travis and VL. Travis clinched the award for most entries by a male artist, while female artist Michelle Marengo claimed victory over Sly for the most entries by a female artist. SS Gang took home the award for Best Group.

Hot tune for the year went to ‘Nou ti anmoure’ by Colvin and MiKhail, while the award for Best Collaboration, a tough category comprising numerous nominees went to ‘Memwar’ by MV, Omega and Riggid, after remaining at the top of the chart for five weeks. Also featured in the best collaboration category were Daniel featuring Auspicious, Cocky featuring Kelly with ‘Zoli Fiy’ and Sly, Joel and Xtra Big ‘Ou lanmour’.

This year’s award show featured an award for the Most Valuable Producer (MVP), with the award going to producer, singer, songwriter extraordinaire Xtra Big. Host Oriji remarked that the competition was tight between Xtra Big and Dareal Ting, although Xtra Big won based on the fact that he has slightly more number one hits than Dareal Ting.

Much-loved and cherished artist David Philoe is this year’s Hall of Fame 2021. Due to his medical condition, Mr Philoe was unable to attend and had his award collected by his son Lenny Philoe.

The final award of the year went to all-round performer Travis with ‘Plis ki Plis’.

Hosted by Paradise FM presenters Emz and Oriji, the soiree was packed with performances by Emerald with his much-loved hit ‘Oparavan’, Josh Wilds who performed ‘Okay’, and Telsy with ‘Retourn Kot Mwan’, which held top position on the chart attack show for five weeks. Nene and Ronnia took their performances to the next level, with medleys of their most popular pieces.

Other performers who took to the stage to entertain the audience, were MV, Omega and Riggid, Auspicious, Mugga and Travis. As was the case the previous year, the SBC Paradise FM presenters performed a Christmas and New Year medley, to the delight of all invitees and fans.

The accompanying photos show some highlights of the soiree.

Laura Pillay

Photos by Louis Toussaint