What do PAM Awards organizers know about Rwandan music?

It was a merry night, sometime last week, as the winners of Uganda’s PAM Awards were crowned. They also included local stars, Alpha Rwirangira and Miss Jojo, who waved flags for Rwanda as the country’s 2011 “Best Male” and “Best Female artists”, respectively. Thumbs up again for the up-and-coming singer, Alpha for registering yet another hit of his career; and, too good for Miss Jojo, who had been off the music scene for some time. And the PAM Award organizers; how do they they determine the best Rwandan artiste? According to a Ugandan source, winners are selected by SMS voting from the general public, and then a panel of Judges. The panel holds the majority 60 percent of the decision. Before the writer questions this system again; can someone explain if it is the Rwandans who do the voting for “Best Rwandan artists” or someone else? - Someone who knows only two or three Rwandan songs? If it is the Rwandans, then it might be unreasonable to expect them to take part in the voting that they hardly are informed about. PAM Awards’ organizers need consider promoting the event more, especially now that they have offered to extend it to all East Africans (since 2006). Miss Jojo, for example, beat all her opponents to claim the “Best Female” category for example. This category must have given the judges or voters themselves hard time, because there was practically less competition. But, since the PAM Awards looks for “artistic and technical achievement”, according to sources, “other than sales or chart positions” they owe us more explanations on how they came up with the conclusion that Miss Jojo is the most talented, over her fierce competitors like Aline Gahongayire and Liza. The “Best Rwanda…” honour would be more meaningful if it was renamed “Rwandan Artist Most known to Ugandans” or something like that. This would also give a perfect explanation to why Alpha, having had his name pronounced highly across the region, and Miss Jojo, having been involved in a number of East African projects, keep on winning. Both have won the titles before. Ends

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What do PAM Awards organizers know about Rwandan music?