Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Five powerhouses up for Female Artist of the Year at the SAMAs [listen]

08/08/2022

Five powerhouses up for Female Artist of the Year at the SAMAs [listen]The Female Artist of the Year category at the SAMAs is filled with fierce talent from a range of genres. Take a look at the nominees.

by Naledi de Wee

08-08-2022 13:59

in Music

Msaki and Kamo Mphela are both nominated for the Female Artist of the Year Award for the 28th annual SAMAs. Images via Twitter @Msaki_ZA @Kamo_mphelaxx

This year, the South African Music Awards (SAMAs) return to an in-person event after COVID-19 disrupted plans for 2021. Five incredible female artists are up for the hotly contested Female Artist of the Year Award. In celebration of Women's Day on Tuesday 9 August, here is a quick look at which artists will be competing for the award.

--

ALSO READ: Women's Day: Mzansi's celebrities share motivational messages

MSAKI PLATINUMB HEART BEATING' Asanda Luaseni Mvana, popularly known as singer-songwriter Msaki, has wowed Mzansi with her heartfelt lyrics and incredible vocal range. The East London-born singer released her 18-track album, Platinumb Heart Beating, in November 2021 and has received rave reviews for songs like Mntakababa, Uthando Lwam and No Rainbow.

Apart from the Female Artist of the Year Award, Msaki has also been nominated for Artist of the Year, Best Produced Album, Best Adult Contemporary Album and Best Collaboration for her song No Rainbow featuring Da Capo.

--

LISTEN TO NO RAINBOW' HERE

KHANYISILE MTHETWA AFRICAN BIRD' Khanyisile Mthethwa is a flautist who performs with the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2019. Mthetwa scored a mention on Mail & Guardian's inspirational 200 Young South Africans list.

The talented musician has scored a SAMA nomination for her 2021 album, African Bird. The 20-track album is a sonic experience as Mthetwa takes listeners on a journey with her flute.

LISTEN TO 'WISH SONATINE' HERE

ALSO READ: Katlego Maboe's Expresso' backlash: How we celebrate Women's Day?'

--

KAMO MPHELA NKULUNKULU' Kamo Mphela, who has been dubbed the Queen of Amapiano , rose to popularity after videos of her dancing went viral in 2019. Three years later, Mphela is now one of Mzansi's top amapiano stars. The energetic artist has been nominated for the Female Artist of the Year Award at the SAMAs for her EP, Nkulunkulu.

The four-track EP features incredible tracks like 100 Shooter, Percy Tau and the title track of the album, which was certified platinum in 2021.

WATCH THE NKULUNKULU' MUSIC VIDEO HERE

REIGN AFRIKA TRAILBLAZER' Tsoseletso Motsepe, better known as Reign Afrika, is celebrating her second consecutive nomination in the Female of the Year category at the SAMAs. The reggae and dancehall musician has been nominated for her 14-track album, Trailblazer.

The album has two features SA hip-hop star PdotO and Jamaican artist Sizzla Kalonji.

LISTEN TO FROM ME' HERE

SHEKHINAH TROUBLE IN PARADISE' Rounding up the nominees for Female Artist of the Year is R&B songbird, Shekhinah. After a four-year hiatus from music, the Durban-born singer-songwriter released her album, Trouble In Paradise.

The 12-track album included exceptional tracks like Questions, Fixate, Fall Apart and Tides.

LISTEN TO FIXATE' HERE

This Women's Month, we are calling all young female writers to join our exciting Women in Journalism initiative. Find out more here!

Are you a true Scandal!' soapie superfan? Take part in our quiz and WIN R1 000 in cash!
LINK: https://www.thesouthafrican.com/culture/music/samas-female-artist-of-t...
See more stories from thesouthafrican

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

06/09/2026

Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Germany with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos

June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

04/07/2026

Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in Dolby Cinemas Across Japan, Presented in Dolby Atmos and Dolby ...

April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...

02/07/2026

SVG Students To Watch: Abby Finke, University of Dayton

Entering her senior year, this hometown girl is paving a career in live sports production gaining experience in replay and audio and as a TD In the live-sports...

02/07/2026

SVG GameDay, Ep. 22: Winnipeg Jets Kyle Balharry - Going to Work in the Great White North

In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...

02/07/2026

BLAST Reports $133 Million in 2025 Revenue, Opens New York Headquarters

BLAST, a competitive entertainment company focused on esports, has announced more than $133 million in revenue for 2025, representing more than 40% year-over-ye...

02/07/2026

Riedel and SKAARHOJ Expand Collaboration with SimplyLive Integration

Riedel Communications has announced official SKAARHOJ panel support for SimplyLive production workflows, enabled through the SimplyLive 2.1 release. The integra...

02/07/2026

Czech Fire Rescue Service Deploys LiveU Video Transmission for Emergency Operations

The Fire Rescue Service of the Czech Republic has deployed LiveU video-over-bond...

02/07/2026

Gravity Media USA Appoints Brittney Boston as Head of Business Development

Gravity Media USA has announced the appointment of Brittney Boston as Head of Business Development, effective July 1, 2026. Based in Nashville, Tennessee, Bosto...

02/07/2026

TwelveLabs Raises $100 Million in Series B Funding

TwelveLabs, a video intelligence company, has announced $100 million in Series B funding co-led by NEA and NAVER Ventures, with participation from Amazon, Radic...

02/07/2026

Pro Padel League Announces Broadcast Partnership With USA Sports for 2026 Season

The Pro Padel League (PPL) has announced a broadcast partnership with USA Sports that will air five PPL championship matches on CNBC during the 2026 season, the...

02/07/2026

LiveLike Powers Eight FIFA World Cup 2026 Fan Engagement Activations Across Five Continents

LiveLike, a digital fan engagement platform, has announced eight confirmed FIFA ...

02/07/2026

InfoComm 2026: Cobalt Digitals blueCORE Wins Futures Best of Show Award

Cobalt Digital has received Future's Best of Show Award, presented by AV Technology at InfoComm 2026, for its blueCORE family of standalone signal processor...

02/07/2026

Synamedia Appoints Dr. Tzvi Gerstl as CEO

Synamedia has announced the appointment of Dr. Tzvi Gerstl as Chief Executive Officer. Paul Segre, who has served as CEO for the past six years, will transition...

02/07/2026

Esports World Cup 2026 Announces Expanded Sony Partnership for Paris Event

The Esports Foundation (EF) and Sony Group Corporation have announced an expanded collaboration for the Esports World Cup 2026 (EWC), taking place in Paris, Fra...

02/07/2026

Zee Entertainment Secures Exclusive Bundesliga Rights in India for Five Years

Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. ( Z') has announced exclusive broadcast and digital rights for the Bundesliga in India for five years, beginning with the...

02/07/2026

All Hands on Deck: NBCU Comes Together to Produce Ultra-Complex Sail4th 250 Broadcast on July 4

NBCU brings together News, Sports, Local, and Telemundo for a 50+ camera live pr...

02/07/2026

Release Rundown: What to Watch in July, From Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass to Murder 101

Zoey Deutch, John Slattery, Ken Marino, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, and Ben Wang appe...

02/07/2026

The Crow Hill Company introduce Brackish Pads

Stammering, stuttering, strangulated tones The Crow Hill Company's latest creation promises to be the most original sound set they've produced to d...

02/07/2026

Steinberg SpectraLayers 13 now available

A new era in unmixing and spectral editing The latest version of Steinberg's spectral audio-editing software has just arrived, building on the strength...

02/07/2026

Sine Machine from Melatonin

Aims to simplify additive synthesis Sine Machine is the debut launch from Melatonin, a Vienna-based developer who have spent the past six years creating wha...

02/07/2026

iZotope acquired by Boris FX

Products to remain fully active & supported Following the news of Native Instruments joining the inMusic brand line-up, Academy and Emmy Award-winning visua...

02/07/2026

GearExpo UK 2026

What you missed! Last weekend, Saturday 27 June 2026, saw the debut of Sound On Sounds new GearExpo UK event, the largest dedicated pro-audio event to take ...

02/07/2026

Imagine Communications Acquired by Lumine Group

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

02/07/2026

Rise AV APAC Brings Mentoring Conversation to InfoComm As...

Following the successful launch of its inaugural APAC Mentoring Programme last month, the Rise AV APAC Regional Council will bring the conversation around mento...

02/07/2026

Blackmagic PYXIS 6K Used to Shoot Director Takahisa Zeze's Cry Out

Blackmagic PYXIS 6K Used to Shoot Director Takahisa Zeze's Cry Out Brie Clayton July 2, 2026 0 Comments Highly mobile camera supports tense and de...

02/07/2026

Broadcast Solutions acquires BFE, expanding its lead in European broadcast, media and communications infrastructure

Broadcast Solutions acquires BFE, expanding its lead in European broadcast, medi...

02/07/2026

Berklee Alum and Faculty Perform at Boston Public Library's 250th Anniversary Celebration of the Declaration of Independence

Berklee Alum and Faculty Perform at Boston Public Library's 250th Anniversar...

02/07/2026

Broadcast Solutions acquires BFE

Broadcast Solutions GmbH, a leading systems integrator and provider of innovative solutions for the broadcast media industry, is acquiring BFE Studio und Medien...

02/07/2026

LiveMode builds agile content ingest with Cinegy

Cinegy GmbH, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has extended the ingest facility at leading Brazilian sports company LiveMode, work...

02/07/2026

Synamedia Appoints Dr Tzvi Gerstl CEO

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

02/07/2026

Cobalt Digitals blueCORE Wins Futures Best of Show Award...

Standalone processors acknowledged for the innovation and value they bring to Pro AV Cobalt Digital, a leading designer and manufacturer of signal processing ...

02/07/2026

Synamedia Appoints Dr Tzvi Gerstl as CEO as Company Enter...

Synamedia announced today the appointment of Dr Tzvi Gerstl as Chief Executive Officer. Paul Segre, who has served as CEO for the past six years, will transitio...

02/07/2026

Screen Australia backs audience-led filmmaking with new insight-driven initiatives

Screen Australia backs audience-led filmmaking with new insight-driven initiativ...

02/07/2026

Screen Australia refines guidelines for Narrative Content Development and Documentary Development

Screen Australia refines guidelines for Narrative Content Development and Docume...

02/07/2026

Maxon Autograph: Introduction to working with Tables

Maxon Autograph: Introduction to working with Tables Simon Ubsdell July 1, 2026 0 Comments An overview of Autograph's ridiculously powerful tables...

02/07/2026

Boston Conservatory's Soire Breaks Records to Fund Student Scholarships

Boston Conservatory's Soir e Breaks Records to Fund Student Scholarships The event achieved 127 percent of its fundraising goal in an evening celebrating ...

02/07/2026

How Adam Rosenwach Pivoted from Music to Med Tech Without Missing a Beat

How Adam Rosenwach Pivoted from Music to Med Tech Without Missing a Beat What do the rehearsal room and the boardroom have in common? More than you might thin...

02/07/2026

Warner Bros. Discovery UK & Ireland backs Unacceptable for a second series on TLC ahead of Sunday's premiere

Warner Bros. Discovery UK & Ireland backs Unacceptable for a second series on TL...

02/07/2026

Tea with Judi Dench returns to Sky Arts with legendary guest, Sir Ian McKellen

Thursday 2 July 2026 Tea with Judi Dench returns to Sky Arts with legendary guest, Sir Ian McKellen Sky today confirms Tea with Judi Dench will return this su...

02/07/2026

Joyride Through July With 12 Games Coming to GeForce NOW

Summer is heating up - and GeForce NOW is taking players along for the ride. Start the month with Monopoly: Star Wars Heroes vs. Villains, bringing a galaxy fa...

01/07/2026

Broadcast Management Group Appoints Kathy Samuels as Director of Creative Services

Broadcast Management Group (BMG) has announced the appointment of Kathy Samuels ...

01/07/2026

Shade Launches Custom Objects and Automations

Shade has announced Custom Objects and Automations, a platform expansion releasing June 29, 2026, that adds database and workflow automation capabilities direct...

01/07/2026

FOR-A America Adds Two Regional Sales Leaders

FOR-A America has announced the addition of Jaz Wray and Fernando Cruz to its U.S. sales team. Both report to Ernie Leon, Senior VP and Head of Sales and Strate...

01/07/2026

NBC Sports To Present All 15 MLB Games Nationally on July 4 Weekend Star-Spangled Sunday'

NBC Sports will air all 15 MLB games nationally on Sunday, July 5, across NBC, P...

01/07/2026

Clear-Com Upgrades Wireless Communications for Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune

Clear-Com has announced a wireless communications upgrade for Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune, deploying FreeSpeak II and FreeSpeak Icon systems across both prod...

01/07/2026

England Deploys Sony STATSports Live GPS Tracking at FIFA World Cup 2026

England's performance team will use Sony's STATSports APEX GPS tracking system to monitor player physical data in real time during FIFA World Cup 2026 m...

01/07/2026

Adder Technology Appoints Neil Hillier as CEO

Adder Technology has announced the appointment of Neil Hillier as Chief Executive Officer, effective July 1, 2026. Hillier succeeds Adrian Dickens, who transiti...

01/07/2026

Bitcentral Splits Into Two Companies: Bitcentral and ViewNexa

Bitcentral, Inc. has announced a strategic transaction creating two separate companies. The Production and Playout business will continue as Bitcentral, now own...