Following their nomination for one of the most prestigious music awards in the region – Groove Awards –, Alarm Ministries are optimistic to emerge among the winners.

The Groove Awards is a Kenyan annual gospel award that recognises outstanding gospel music personalities from across the region, with the aim of equipping and raising the standards of gospel musicians.

Nominees for this year’s awards (to recognise compositions for 2015) were announced on April 26 at a glamorous event in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital. For the fourth year running, this annual event is being held under the theme, "Come As You Are.’

Alarm Ministries, comprised of singers from different Pentecostal churches across the country, emerged as one of the new surprise entries in the category of Best Artist for East and Central Africa, one of the most tightly contested categories. 

Speaking to The New Times in a telephone interview on Wednesday, Egide Bizima aka BEM, a member of Alarm Ministries, said the nomination means a lot to the choir. "The nomination means a lot to us. It shows how we are expanding our reach beyond Rwanda and now appeal to the people of central and East Africa. I am confident we can win it, especially if given a chance to perform and show the audience (at the grand finale) what we can do,” he said.

In this category, Alarm Ministries is competing for the prize with Christina Shusho from Tanzania, Coopy Bly from Uganda, John Lisu from Tanzania, Rebecca Soki from DR Congo, and Wilson Bugembe from Uganda.

The choir already has two Groove Awards to its credit, in the category of Best Choir in Rwanda – 2013 and 2015. It is known for songs such as Songa mbele, Mwami Mana, and Yahwe.

Bizima says that having been nominated in the category of Best Artist for East and Central Africa means the choir is making great progress.

"It is a step forward and I believe it shows that we can achieve far greater things. It is proof that no one can stop us on our mission as Alarm Ministries unless we choose to stop ourselves.”

He added that the choir is ready to work even harder this year with concerts in and out of the country and appealed to the fans to vote for them.

Public voting for the Awards is now open and runs until May 31. Fans can vote by phone calls or via the Groove Awards website. The winners will be announced on June 1 at the Awards gala in Nairobi.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw