By Matṧeliso Phulane
Basotho MCT Entertainment will on host its first annual MCT Recognition awards (MCTR) in January next year on a date to be confirmed.
The awards seek to recognise the abundance of talent in Lesotho’s entertainment industry.
Nominations will kick off on December 9, 2023 where nominees will introduce themselves by strutting their stuff.
The MCTR awards feature different categories such as influencer of the year, album of the year, best comedian, best male, lifetime achievement award, digital content creator best producer, song of the year and many more. The winner in each category will receive an award.
Established in 2019 to enable artists, corporates and innovators to fulfill their recording, multimedia design, music branding distribution and consulting needs in a comfortable, yet professional atmosphere, MCT Entertainment has become the hub for talent in the country.
The company operates as a management hub for a number of musicians. It was founded by member of parliament, Mokherane Tsatsanyane, as a gesture to contribute towards youth development.
In an interview with theReporter, the brand manager of MCT Entertainment, Likomo Tsatsanyane, said the awards are different from others as they recognise people that are making an impact in the musical industry, film industry or entertainment industry.
“The inspiration behind the awards is basically being able to host an award ceremony as an entertainment company, because we see how hard Basotho work but are never acknowledged.
“We are trying to help Basotho youth to pursue their careers further. So, as MCT Entertainment, we are the ones who choose the nominees as well as the categories depending on who we recognise or find suitable for each category,” Tsatsanyane noted.
She, however, mentioned that having nominated their own nominees, they are having a problem with some of the artists who withdrew from their categories. The reason being that they do not understand enough about the awards.
Apart from that such nominees think their age is not suitable for the competition, as they regard it as a competition for young people.
She said artists like Kommanda Obbs turned down the nomination, and she thinks that is because he did not clearly understand the spirit of the awards.
On his Facebook page, Kommanda Obbs mentioned that he had no idea “who had submitted on my behalf but I would politely and humbly like to reject the nomination”.
Tsatsanyane stated that besides Kommanda Obbs, one other Famo artist explained that her old age does not allow her to enter the competition with youth. As a result, she will be replaced by other nominees suitable for the category.
The voting process is done by Sms-ing BCOM07 to 32023. For WhatsApp voting they should: send key word “MCT” to 66100100, choose a category, choose the nominee code BCOM07.
