Songbird Lira tops at Samas

The South African Music Award the Sun City Superbowl on Saturday belonged to songbird Lira.

SOUL QUEEN: Lira brushed aside established names to scoop four awards at the Samas at Sun City at the weekend. DIVA: Gospel sensation Rebecca Malope IMPRESSIVE: Samas programme director Trevor Noah. PHOTOS: BAFANA MAHLANGU GANGING UP : Mandla N and Tumi Masemola

Lira won Album of the Year for Soul In Mind album; Female Artist of the Year, ahead of established names such as Siphokazi, Zamajobe, Judith Sephuma and Josie Field, and Best Adult Contemporary in English with Soul in the Mind.

Rhythmic Elements also shone on stage when the public voted them Record of the Year winners for their song 2b2 on their album The Offering.

Rap duo Teargas also showed that they were kings when it comes to the highly contested category of Best Rap Album winners for their album Wafa Wafa.

The Best Kwaito Album, another highly contested category of the Samas, went to controversial kwaito exponent Brickz, showing that he is still a dominant force in this category after monopolising it for some years.

Gang of Instrumentals were also notable winners when they walked away with Remix of the Year Award.

Another notable winner at this year’s 15th Samas was Andile Mseleku, who walked home with a statuette for Best Newcomer ahead of Voices of Angels and Jody.

Thembisile romped home with Best Adult Contemporary Album African.

Of course, there were other category winners whose triumph did not come as a surprise, such as Rebecca Malope, who walked away with the award for Best African Traditional Gospel.

The function was impressively hosted by comedian Trevor Noah, whose sleek handling of the awards was well appreciated by the capacity crowd on Saturday.

As during the previous awards, held at the same venue, guests were well- dressed to impress and show that the awards are taken seriously by guests and designers