Six gospel artists have been nominated to represent Rwanda at the Groove Awards slated to take place on May 1, in Kenya.

Aime Uwimana, Patrick Nyamitari, The Sister, Diane Nkusi, Albert Shala and Alex Dusaba are the nominees. They were voted by local print and electronic media institutions as well as music producers. Also nominated were six best singles/albums for 2009.

The initial stage of the nominations has ended. However, online nominations at www.grooveawards.com website are ongoing until April 23.

"The preparations for the Groove Awards are going on well,” said gospel artists, Dusabe and Nyamitari while Aime said: "I am ready and eyeing the prizes.”

However, Nkusi and Shala requested for more votes.
"Even though we were nominated, we were not prepared enough for the festival; but we still have hope since the online voting is still going on,” said Nkusi.

Rwanda’s artists will travel to Kenya on April 28, where they will meet other gospel artists from the region for the grand finale.

This year’s ceremony sees the introduction of new country categories to give the event a regional fete. Rwanda and Burundi joins Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda in the East Africa category and will each have their own Artist of the Year.

There will be a Diaspora Artist of the Year category that will be reserved for all Kenyan gospel artists outside East Africa.

The Groove Awards seeks to promote, expose and celebrate gospel talent in the region and across Africa.

Since its inception in 2004, over 600 artists/groups have been nominated and over 100 Groove statuettes have been presented to musicians in East African region.

Ends