After missing out on nominations for this year’s Groove Awards, leading Gospel artistes and previous Groove winners Willy Paul and Bahati were conspicuously missing from the event that took place Wednesday night at Kasarani.
The 11th edition of the premier award show, which saw a number of secular artistes and deejays including Crème, Mejja, Cannibal and Calvo Mistari attend, was also snubbed by Hey Z and gospel dancehall artiste Hope Kid.
The snub by leading artistes caused a stir, with many doubting whether the awards will pull more gospel artistes in the coming years.
“It was a night full of surprises considering Willy Paul and Bahati are the biggest artistes we have around,” said a female gospel artiste who sought anonymity. “One could even tell Daddy Owen was disappointed that L Jay Maasai took home the Male Artiste of the Year category. Daddy Owen thought it would be his.”
