Namibia: Another Artist Withdraws From Music Awards

Namibia: Another Artist Withdraws From Music Awards

New Era (Windhoek)

10 October 2008
Posted to the web 10 October 2008

Windhoek

Phura has withdrawn from the annual Sanlam/NBC Music Awards, his company, Welwitchia Music Production, has announced.

"This statement serves to openly announce the withdrawal of Timothy 'Phura' Duwe from nominations in the Best Damara Punch/Ma/gaisa and the Best Soukous/Rumba/Kwiku categories of the Sanlam NBC Music Awards 2008," read the notice.

Phura is the third artists to withdraw after Gazza and The Dogg previously announced their withdrawal from the awards.

"This action came after he noticed that the song Happy Day by Tate Buti was considered for nomination in the Best Ma/gaisa category. Phura is very unhappy about this and strongly believes that as a genuine Ma/gaisa artist and as one of its main initiators, it would be incongruous for him to participate in a pursuit that could potentially delude the true essence of the given music genre," the statement read.

The artist said: "The withdrawal of my name from the nominations is neither personal to Tate Buti and his musical associates nor is it attributed to fear of competition. And anyone remotely familiar with my career knows that I am confident enough in my own abilities to be happy to compete with enormously talented people - the more talented, the better."

Phura has officially asked for his name to be removed from the nomination list and his fans are thus advised not to cast their votes for him. The nomination in this year's awards follows the success of his third album titled Mamas /guis a ‡an.

"Phura is very appreciative of the support that he has received from those involved in the awards as well as the people who might have committed themselves to support him with passion to reach prominence in the awards. He therefore apologises to all concerned, especiallyhis fans, for any inconvenience that his withdrawal might cause," the statement read.

"I, however, trust and hope that my fans will try and understand my reasons and respect my decision. As this is in order to keep our naturally Namibian music like Ma/gaisa constant," Phura concluded.