Congratulations are in order to all recipients, the organisers and promoters of the Excellence in Music and Entertainment (EME) Awards. Previously, the presentation for the four-year-old brainchild of Richard 'Richie B' Burgess was held inside the studio of Hot 102, so the inaugural awards ceremony, a red carpet affair of sorts, which unfolded at the gardens of the Pegasus Hotel on Thursday evening, marked a welcome return of local music awards shows.

However, there were one or two surprises, not least of which was the level of organisation. The home-grown music industry needs events like these that seek to give recognition to its members for excellence, but well-meaning as they are, they deserve to be organised at a level that sets the standard for the excellence that they seek to highlight and promote.

Queen Ifrica at Thursday's Excellence in Music and Entertainment (EME) Awards held in the Gardens of the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel. She copped - the EME Award for Singjay of the Year. (Photo: Joseph Wellington)

With the ceremony scheduled to start at 8:30 pm, it was not until 9:10 pm, when Ian Andrews began singing the National Anthem. There were other glitches that militated against the smooth flow of the proceedings, and although one would expect some amount of teething pains, the event, involving two media houses, would have better served its purpose if it was executed at a more exemplary level.

That said, among the big winners of the night was Lutan Fyah, who emerged ahead of a slew of more popular artistes like Queen Ifrica, Etana, Tarrus Riley, Jah Cure and Pressure to win the award of Cultural Artiste of the Year. And although Lutan Fyah copped the Cultural Artiste of the Year Award, the award for The Most Uplifting Lyrics went to Cham for his song Conscience.

Junior Reid is undoubtedly the Top International Artiste of the Year as he was duly awarded, but the award for The Biggest Comeback Artiste of the Yearwent to Anthony B. The Doctor, Beenie Man was crowned The Deejay of The Year, with the Dancehall Song of the Year (Back It Up), and also the Combination Song of the Year, Give It Up while the award for Recording Artiste of the Year (a category in which Beenie Man was also nominated), went to Mavado who also won Singjay of The Year. And, of course, there is no parables in Tarrus Riley winning the Male Vocalist of Year Award and the award for Song of The Year, She's Royal. Along with Tarrus Riley, Queen Ifrica was the most popular winner of the night's awards. Like Top International Artiste Junior Reid, for her, the Female Deejay/Singjay Award was a surety. And the crowd's approval attested to this.

As to be expected, the media event also had its moments of high-quality entertainment worthy of the performers who were being honoured for their excellence. These include Etana, Junior Reid along with his sons, Andrew and Waddah Blood; Busy Signal, recipient of the (Reggae/Dancehall) Songwriter/Lyricist of The Year Award.

Thanks to the imagination and foresight of the organisers, there was a measure of novelty among the awardees. One such was the International Friends of Reggae Award which went to two superstars, Alicia Keys and Akon. Another such novelty was the Honour Awards for Reggae Role Model of The Year, which went to Beres Hammond, and the Dancehall Role Model of The Year, which was copped by no other than Orville 'Shaggy' Burrell.

An impressive feature of this new dispensation of the EME Awards is the number of artistes who were present to receive their awards. This should be an encouragement for all stakeholders, as it goes to show the level of respect and appreciation the performers have for this important effort on the part of Richie B and company.

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