Njeri And Jabidii Are Biggest Winners Of The 2019 Groove Awards

Groove Awards is the most prestigious gospel award in East Africa. This year’s award Gala was at the Mövenpick Hotel & Residences, Nairobi. Several artists were nominated for the award. However, it was Eunice Njeri and Jabidii who were the biggest winners of the night.

Now in its 14th edition, the Groove Awards identifies and rewards gospel artists. The award is split into 25 categories. As always, the award had a couple of surprises. However, the most stunning was the comeback by Njeri to win the ‘Artist of the Year Award’ and ‘Praise and Worship Song of the Year’. This is one of the most coveted awards because of its accompanying perks.

Nominations and big winners at the 2019 Groove Awards

Jabidii broke his last year’s record of 7 nominations by receiving an impressive 11 nominations. Next on the log were Moji Short Babaa and Timeless Noel with 6 nominations each. Consequently, Jabidii went home with 5 awards—the most by an individual nominee. The prolific artist took the award in the following Groove Awards categories; ‘Song of the Year’, ‘Dance Style/Song of the Year’, ‘Collabo of the Year’, ‘Teens Choice Song of the Year’, and ‘Reggae/Ragga Song of the Year’.

Moji Short Babaa also bagged four awards courtesy of his collabo with Jabidii, ‘Vimbada’. ‘China’, a hit single by Jabidii won the ‘Reggae/Ragga Song of the Year’. However, Armani Gracious aka Amani G shocked everyone by winning the ‘Young Groover of the Year’.

What the big winners stand to gain

Winning some of the Groove Award categories come with huge benefits. For example, for winning the ‘Artiste of the Year’, Njeri will tour Dubai for five days. This is courtesy of Bonfire Adventures. However, that is not all. She will also get airtime from Safaricom, a sponsorship worth Sh30,000 as well as free rides from the company’s cab platform, Little Cab. Shell is also offering fuel worth Sh50,000 while Pace Africa is offering headphones.

Jabidii and Moji Short Baba will also smile home with lots of perks for winning the Groove Award’s ‘Song of the Year’. Firstly, they will get airtime from Safaricom, Sh30,000 sponsorship from the company’s Masoko shopping platform as well as free rides from the company’s cab platform, Little Cab. Shell is also offering Sh50,000 worth of fuel while Pace Africa is offering headphones. Subsequently, they will be going for a five-day trip to Mombasa courtesy of Bonfire Adventures.

Full list of the winners

The 2019 Groove Awards nearly would not have held because many of the sponsors pulled out. However, the event attracted a huge crowd to the surprise of the organizers. The full list of the winners of the different categories are as follows;

1. Artist of the Year– Eunice Njeri
2. Song of the Year: Vimbada – Jabidii, Moji Short Babaa
3. Music Video of the Year: Nifanane Nawe – Wahu Kagwe
4. Teens Choice Song of the Year: Vimbada– Jabidii, Moji Short Babaa
5. Collabo of the Year: Vimbada– Jabidii, Moji Short Babaa
6. Young Groover of the Year– Amani Gracious
7. Reggae/Ragga Song of the Year – China – Jabidii
8. Dance Style/ Song of the Year – Vimbada – Jabidii, Moji Short Babaa
9. Outstanding Contributor– RKay
10. Diaspora Artist of the Year– Benachi
11. Hypeman/MC of the Year– Timeless Noel
12. Song Writer of the Year– Pitson
13. Online/Digital Personality of the Year– Kabi and Milly for the WaJesus Family
14. Video Producer of the Year– Steve Mugo
15. The Audio Producer of the Year– Gideon Kimanzi
16. Breakthrough Female Artist of the Year– Emma Omonge
17. Breakthrough Male Artist of the Year– Baraka Musiq
18. Media Personality of the Year– Syombua Mwele
19. Praise and Worship Song of the Year:  Zaidi na Zaidi – Eunice Njeri
20. Coastal Song of the Year: Nakupenda – Eve Bahati
21. Central Song of the Year: Mutheani – Phyllis Mbuthia and Sammy Irungu
22. Nyanza Counties Song of the Year: Conqueror – Fenny Kerubo
23. Rift Valley Song of the Year: Kapchi – Mum Cherop
24. Eastern Counties Song of the Year – Stephen Kasolo
25. Western Song of the Year: Lwanda ni Yesu – Timothy Kitui and Ali Mukhwana