BOSTON – Saturday, Mwalim and Amaris emerged from the New England Urban Music Awards with the extremely prestigious, Best Male and Best Female Jazz Vocalist award, cited for their work on “The Liberation Sessions” CD, specifically the songs “DEM BIG GIRLS,” “Ain’t Done Yet,” and “Awakened by a Noon Day Sun.” Albeit DEM BIG GIRLS is more of a Caribbean/ Dance-hall tune, the judges still recognized Mwalim’s strong jazz influences and phrasing to the point of giving him the nod for the award. Mwalim also accepted Amaris' award on her behalf as she could not attend the ceremony.
The air was electric in Dorchester’s Strand Theater Saturday night as people filed into the auditorium for the 2010 New England Urban Music Awards. In the initial stages of the award’s nomination process, “The Liberation Sessions” and it’s featured artists received 12 nominations in various categories. By the second round of nominations, when the pool is even further trimmed down, Amaris, Mwalim, Tantra and The Bass Mint Bros were still in the running, including a best Caribbean Single nomination for DEM BIG GIRLS.The New England Urban Music Awards began in 2004 as a way to recognize the efforts of Urban Music artists from the New England area and are held annually at The Strand.
www.mwalim.com
