Nigeria Content Online

Prior to the
Soundcity Music Video Awards of November 20, its organisers generated a
lot of hype about the calibre of the event they were planning to
unfold. The major gist was how different this show was going to be from
prior SMVAs and also from other award shows in the country. “We are
aiming for international standards,” CEO of Consolidated Media, owner
of the Soundcity brand, Tajudeen Adeputu was quoted as saying.

The show started
with the ubiquitous red carpet which the SMVAs had transformed to a
fashion show hosted by Spice TV, the lifestyle channel and sister brand
to Soundcity. The red carpet was opened only to holders of the VVIP
ticket sold at N100,000 and special guests. The dramatically and
beautifully lit runway which was hoisted at the poolside of the Eko
Hotel and Suites, Lagos, featured designs from top fashion houses
across Africa, especially Nigeria. There were exquisite designs from
Lanre Da Silva-Ajayi, Tiffany Amber and Dax Martin from South Africa,
amongst others.

The award show proper which was held at the Expo Hall of the same hotel started at about 11pm.

Uti the host

The event started
with a performance from P-Square, backed by a high-octane dance routine
from dancer, Kaffy. The announcer soon introduced the host and Big
Brother All-Stars winner, Uti Nwachukwu. Heralded by bikini clad
females and himself in glittering metallic overalls, Uti’s entrance
aimed for the dramatic but only marginally achieved it. (To balance the
bikini-clad females, at another point during the show, bikini-clad
males accompanied Adaora, host of MTN Project Fame on stage to present
an award.) There had been some sceptics on the choice of Uti as host.
However, with the sarcastic wit he displayed on Big Brother, his
supporters felt he was worthy. At the end of the day, both sides of the
debate came out justified. He had his high and low moments but there
was nothing of the spectacular, either good or bad.

Unlike last year’s
show where the sound quality was held in question, this year it was
loud and clear. For those on the balcony who were not able to feel the
raw excitement from the well-lit stage (the downside of VIP area),
there were small screens in strategic corners there and also huge ones
on the walls of the hall that transmitted high definition images. The
camera and video-editing crew did a pretty good hands-on job as there
was no way one could have missed what was happening on stage or the
power of it.

There were however
awkward moments brought on by the absence of quite a number of award
recipients. Presenters were often left standing aimlessly on the stage
after announcing a winner’s name without any clue of what to do with
the award. When this happened to Fred Amata who had to present the
award for Viewers Choice won by Buffalo Souljah for ‘Ezandlha Phezulu’,
he called on Zaaki “the man from Benue to collect the award for the man
from Zimbabwe”. This inspired move was accepted gamely by Zaaki and
brought on amused chuckles from the audience.

The performances

Still going for big
and over the top, the SMVAs had contracted almost all the big names in
Nigerian entertainment and one or two from Ghana and South Africa to
give life performances. Even so, each staged performance depended
entirely on the artists as there were little or no stage effects
provided by the organisers. The best performances came from Sasha P,
Asa and Whiz Kid who displayed some mean dance skills. D’Banj and the
Mo’Hits crew were literal crowd pullers as they (especially after
D’Banj and Don Jazzy appeared) managed to get people off their seats
and to the bottom of the stage where they roared out their love for the
Koko Master. The show all but ended there as most people left the hall
in D’Banj’s wake, leaving very few to witness Timaya, the last
performer, give his usual energetic routine.

From the lights,
cameras and stage and hall models, one thing was evident about the
SMVAs 2010: a lot of money, effort and attention to detail were put in
to this particular event, even starting way back from the runway on the
red carpet. But as Julius Agwu who was an award presenter noted, it was
sadly a solo project from Consolidated Media with no input from
external sponsors.

Although, the SMVAs is still far from what is seen at international
awards, especially at the “average” televised American award show, its
ambitions were clear. At this stage, it is only fair to say that if
Soundcity continues to set such high standards for themselves, they
will one day surpass even these so-called international standards.