Mel Cooke, Freelance Writer

Mavado

On Wednesday evening,as deejay Ce'Cile announced Mavado's nomination in one of four categories in the 27th International Reggae and World Music Awards, she intoned the deejay's signature 'gangster for life'.

It was a cry that was absent from the first Reggae Academy awards, held in late February, leading to an in-depth examination of Mavado's exclusion in THE STAR. In addition, Mavado dismissed the awards at last weekend's 'Magnum Follow The Arrow', held at James Bond Beach, Oracabessa, St Mary. As reported in THE STAR on Tuesday, he said "Mi hear dem going roun' a gi out dem award. Nutten fe de gangster. Me sey keep oonu bt award. If dem waan keep dem award dem no can keep it. Me naa raffle no award."

Mavado's nominations are in the Recording Artiste(s)/Group of the Year, Album of the Year, Songwriter of the Year and Community Service Award categories.

The 27th IRAWMA ceremony will be held at the Apollo Theatre, New York, USA, on Sunday, May 4. Wednesday's announcement of the nominees took place at the Jonkanoo Lounge, Hilton hotel, New Kingston.

Tarrus riley

, Tarrus Riley - file photos

Mavado does not have the most nominations, that distinction going to Tarrus Riley, who has seven. These include the Bob Marley Award for Entertainer of the Year, Recording Artiste/Group of the Year and Best Album/CD.

Some of the other nominees in multiple categories are Buju Banton and Stephen Marley with five, Beenie Man, Shaggy and Mavado with four each and Sean Kingston, Jah Cure, Machel Mantano and Munga Honourable having three apiece.

Ephraim Martin, who heads the organisation which stages the event, said on Wednesday evening that votes are now being accepted at www.irawma.com, up to April 20. He explained that over 1,000 music industry experts were polled for the nominations, which were then verified by an accounting firm before the list was officially released.

Only one vote will be allowed per person.

Lifetime Achievement Awards will go to Billy Ocean, Claudelle Clarke, engineer Errol Brown and Winston Francis. There are categories for hip hop, Latin music, soukous and reggaeton, among other genres.

Those who do not make it to the Apollo in early May will get a chance to see the event live through a webcast, Winford Williams of CVM Television adding that a two-hour special will be produced by an "all Jamaican team" from the 27th IRAWMA for broadcast across the US. Clips will also again be shown in 21 Caribbean countries.

CVM had a strong presence at the 27th IRAWMA launch, which was hosted by Amelia 'Milk' Sewell and Candace Buchanan, among the many persons who read out the nominees. And Miss Jamaica World 2007 Yendi Phillips, when not reading out nominees herself, was among the group of hooters in the front row who livened up the proceedings with yelps and applause as Norma Brown-Bell, Lloyd Lovindeer, Ce'Cile, D'Angel and Copeland Forbes, among others, listed those up for awards in the various categories.

Martin spoke bout how the IRAWMA started, saying that while he was a reporter at The Gleaner he met Bob Marley and Jacob Miller at the airport as they returned from Brazil. Both asked him to do something for Jamaican music; the following day Miller died in a car crash and within a year Marley was dead. Then, at a concert in Chicago with Jimmy Cliff and Peter Tosh, both Tosh and renowned manager Copeland Forbes also encouraged Martin to do more for reggae.

"Later, I wrote about a certain band being number one (in Chicago), not knowing there were 20 other bands in the city," Martin said. This led to the awards show, to set the record straight.

And Winford Williams set the record straight on Martin, outlining his work in promoting reggae and his influence, extending to now US presidential hopeful Barack Obama.