House music DJ Mobi Dixon, who received four nominations for the 28th South African Music Awards (Samas), has a lot to celebrate since the nods came unexpectedly.
The nominees were announced on Tuesday in Randburg, Johannesburg, with Zakes Bantwini topping the list with seven nominations. These include album of the year for Ghetto King, male artist of the year, best dance album and best engineered album awards.
Two of his songs, Imali with Karyendasoul featuring Nana Atta and Osama with Kasango, are also in the running for the best collaboration award.
With his album When House Was House, Mobi Dixon picked up nominations in the best dance album, album of the year, male artist of the year and best produced music video category.
Speaking to Sowetan after the announcement Mobi Dixon said the nominations were a total surprise to him.
“It really came as a surprise for my work to be recognised by the Samas. I have received many nominations and won before. But this time it is different because of a different market and shift of the sound. All what I wanted with this album was to make a statement and remind people where we come from as the genre of house music. House music gave birth to the current sound that we hear,” he said referring to amapiano.
“I am totally overwhelmed to get four nominations. It is the first time I get record of the year nomination. A nomination is already a win and I know I have achieved a lot by being nominated.”
Mobi Dixon said his nominations meant a lot to him and it showed that the house music genre still has a place in the market.
Asked about what makes his recent album different from others, he said: “The album came from a place of realising that house music was being neglected while the sound contributed a lot to the music industry. I had to reflect and take people back to 1995, to 2000 when the sound started to be popular until it got more electronic lately.”
Other artists who scored multiple nominations are DJ Maphorisa with six, Msaki with four while Brian Temba, Sun-El Musician, Khanyisile Mthetwa and Chymamusique earned three nods each.
The Sama ceremony will take place on July 31.
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