DenG wins big at Liberian awards ceremony

The event was organised by one of Liberia's better known websites Tunes Liberia and supported by Orange Liberia.

Winners were rewarded for contributions to the Liberian music industry, and announced from a list of nominees that “were selected based on hard work and consistency through the year and your tireless contributions to the growth of the Liberian music industry. The selection was based highly on merit rather personal friendship or any kind of preference”.

Along with winning the ceremony’s top award Artist of the Year, DenG (real name Daniel George) was also the winner of the Song of the Year award for his hit single ‘Grateful’. DenG is no stranger to awards, having made history as the first artist from his country to be nominated for an MTV Africa Music award in 2016. He recently released a song on the occasion of the election of George Weah as president of Liberia.

DenG first shot to limelight on a song with R&B singer Emma Smith titled ‘I Want to Go’, but later became an artist in the hipco and Afropop genres.

Revoluxon Rocky, who has signed a record deal with a Nigeria-based label, was named Best New Artist and Best Trapco Artist. CIC won the Best AfroPop Artist award and Christoph was named Best HipCo Artist. The awards honorary Legendary Award went to the late Quincy Borrow popularly known as Quincy B. He passed on last year, following a car accident. Quincy B also won ‘Best Video of the Year’ for ‘My Pledge’ featuring Sweetz.

His trophies were collected by his mother, who urged her compatriots to help contribute to the upkeep of the late artist's two children and their mothers.

The website Tunes Liberia features music, videos and entertainment news from the country. “I realised how popular Liberian music had become,” Elvis Juasemai, who founded the website, has said. “But despite the growing demand, I could hardly find them on the Internet, which severely limited their reach.

“We were trying to solve the massive problem of lack of access to Liberian music and lack of digitalisation for the music’s record keeping, situations in my mind that devalued musicians and their music. But the thing has gradually changed since Tunes Liberia was established because no matter your location, you can easily access Liberians music.”

At the event, Juasemai dedicated the overall ceremony to the memory of Quincy B. He later told the media that besides a few issues, the first edition of the awards was a success.