The Dubai International Music Awards (DIMA) has been reworked and rescheduled after an “unavoidable delay”, according to organisers.
Originally announced to take place tomorrow at Burj Park, Downtown Dubai, the event described by organisers as the “World Cup of music” was postponed after attempts to join forces with Dubai Music Week fell through.
DIMA will pay homage to 67 well-known artists from more than 20 countries. Its executive producer Asri Bendacha says although DIMA may not be taking place tomorrow, as originally planned, the countdown to the event will.
“The Road to DIMA starts tomorrow on Fox television,” says Bendacha. “This month, the Puerto Rican superstars Daddy Yankee and Don Omar go head-to-head in a voting battle. The winner, as voted by the viewers, will perform at the awards show next year.”
DIMA is now scheduled to take place in November 2014; the venue is yet to be announced. Every month, two international artists, including popular American, British, K-pop and Indian acts, will perform on television and compete for viewers’ votes in the show The Road to DIMA.
“The public will have the chance to decide who will perform at the awards show next year,” says Bendacha. “The battle artists are big. The artists likely to be up for nomination are even bigger.”
The awards’ panel of judges includes the American Hype Williams, famous for his music videos for stars such as Kanye West and Jay Z, plus other experts, who will be revealed in October 2014.
The event will take into consideration music released from January 1 to September 30, 2014.
The 2015 awards, however, will take into account music released from November 23, 2014, to September 30, 2015, which will continue each subsequent year.
To promote local talent, an online-voting competition will be launched next summer and the winner will perform at the DIMA after party.
DIMA will be topped off with an “extravagant fireworks display”, says Bendacha.
While he won’t reveal which stars have been confirmed to attend, he does suggest the jury panel connections may give a clue about the faces we could be seeing in Dubai next November.
Big-name stars including Jay Z, Rihanna, Coldplay and Pitbull will all be personally invited as guests of Hype Williams. “The show will be ticketed and people will have the chance to share tables with the superstars,” says Bendacha. “It will be a night to remember.”
Award nominations will be announced in October 2014, after which an online voting system will be in place until voting closes a month later – just 10 days before the show.
• Don Omar and Daddy Yankee battle it out on Fox starting Friday at 8pm and eight times a day daily for the next four weeks. The winner will be announced at the end of December, when another duo go head-to-head
artslife@thenational.ae
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