Best South African avant-jazz album:A tie between Zim Ngqawana, for Zimology – a burning free-blowing session -and Moses Molelekwa, for Genes and Spirits, where jazz pianistics meet the new era of drum’n’bass. And praise be to Sheer Sounds and MELT 2000, who recorded them.
Best South African commercial jazz album:Paul Hanmer’s smoothly and confidently laid-back Window to Elsewhere.
Merit prize for the highest profile in white South African popular music:The Springbok Nude Girls, in particular singer Arno Carstens, who began to seem more ubiquitous on magazine covers than James Small (with whom he shared one of SL’s front pages). Closely followed by Nked’s Kaolin “Don’t Mention the Ashtray” Thompson, who came across as surprisingly shy when interviewed on TV. The Girls backed their high media profile with stirring music (the EPs Omnisofa and Opti Mum). Nked didn’t.
Best township album by an icon heading for middle age:Memeza by Brenda Fassie, back yet again, still unstoppable, still demented.
Best album by a neo-folk duo (the James Phillips Memorial Prize):Low Riding by Chris Letcher and Matthew van der Want, which proved that songwriting and tunesmithery is still alive in South African pop.
Best multi-national cross-border co- operation effort:Music from Southern Africa by Mahube (Setswana for “dawn”), an ad hoc supergroup with members ranging from Zimbabwe’s superstar Oliver Mutukudzi to South Africans Scorpio Madondo and director Steve Dyer.
Best otherworldly trip-rock album (with or without a hand-painted sleeve):Fetish’s indie debut, dreamy and wild at the same time, which got them snapped up by a major label. Now they’ve got to do it again, only more so.
Special award for bare-faced cheek: Boom Shaka’s sexy, thumping kwaito version of Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika upset some and thrilled others. If you can’t dance to it, it’s not your revolution.
The Todd Matshikiza Award for keeping traditon alive:Sibongile Khumalo’s Live at the Market Theatre provided new versions of songs by local composers from Brenda Fassie to the late Victor Dlazilwana
The Iggy Award for best over-the-top live act:Munki-punkers Boo!, whose singer Chris Chameleon has a taste for demi-drag that makes him look like a Russian air hostess.
Merit “pop be damned” award for hardcore headbangers: A tie between Seed and Plum, who also combine to perform as the kick- ass big band Morph Attack.
Best genre-crossing hybrid (with or without involvement of a Cabinet minister’s son, and we don’t mean Piet Botha):Admiral and the Ragga Gong Crew’s Ragga Gong, where reggae- toasting meets d’gong.
Best out-there post-electronic head-trip album:Trans.Sky’s Killing Time went places others just won’t or can’t go. Now they’re being produced by The Orb, so there.
Special award for introducing some variation to kwaito: TKZee’s album Hallowe’en takes the genre further than ever before, borrowing from left and from right to mix a potent masala.
Best transition from kwaito to R&B (this award sponsored by Amarula liqueur):Skeem star E’Smile went all swoony, seductive and silky with My House.