In an interview with Drum Magazine, 35-year-old singer Pulane Maphari hailing from Welkom says it was not her intention to mislead the SAMAs. This is after the Recording Industry of South Africa (RiSA), CEO Nhlanhla Sibisi released a statement stating that Maphari had violated the rules of the South African Music Awards.
“It has come to the attention of the office that Maphari repackaged, renamed, and paraded an album she released in 2020 as a new body of work and submitted it for 2021 consideration with the same track-listing. This is in clear violation of the rules of the SAMA and equals an automatic disqualification,” reads the statement.
This has resulted in the artist forfeiting the SAMA Award for Best Contemporary Faith Album.
Pulane found out that she had been revoked of her award at church when she received an article link from a friend. “I thought it was a misunderstanding because I hadn’t received any communication for the SAMAs,” she said.
“I am an independent artist. I applied for the awards by myself. I did not know some of the rules. I didn’t repackage the album so I could win. It was not intentional…I did a studio project, Restorative Breathe of Life as a new artist and because of the lockdown, I couldn’t perform. We then came up with the idea to do a live recording and we did Sacrificial Worship. I entered it into the SAMAs,” she tells Drum.
Pulane’s debut studio album had 13 songs and she says she only used 11 songs from the old project in the new live recording.
In the statement, RiSA CEO says an album that is eligible for a SAMA must only contain not less than four new tracks of previously unreleased songs and remixes are excluded.
“Under general rules: eligibility for entry clause 5.1 states that an album must contain not less than four (4) tracks of previously unreleased recorded performances (Remixes are excluded). Clause 5.2 says 50% of the album must feature different and previously unreleased sound recordings by the artist or group entered (in other words, no re-released albums or ‘best of’ or ‘greatest hits’ compilations and the like),” reads the statement.
The singer says the SAMA awards must also take responsibility; that it is their responsibility to enforce the rules and she wishes that they could’ve spared her the embarrassment of not including her as a nominee.
In the interview, Pulane concluded by saying, “I am truly devastated, but I am leaving it all in God’s hands, he knows my heart and my intentions and that I would not do something like this intentionally.”
The award was awarded to KingdMusic for his album, Denga and Pulane congratulated him on the win.