Iconic Cape Flats band, The Rockets, has been nominated for a SAMA.
The SA Music Awards nomination for Best Pop Album in Afrikaans comes shortly after the band’s phenomenal Lifetime Achievement award at the Ghoema Music Awards in Pretoria over the Easter weekend.
The band was nominated for their album, Sonskyn.
Jerry Watt, band leader and only member of the original outfit, is ecstatic at the nomination as it is recognition of the group’s contribution to SA music.
Hey, jou lekker ding! Three cheers for these Afrikaans pop stars on their #SAMA25 Beste Pop Album nomination! pic.twitter.com/E9hZKtFiGb
— The SA Music Awards (@TheSAMAs) April 25, 2019
Watt says: “We were pleasantly surprised by the nomination. My wife called me to check it out on social media and that’s when I learnt about it.
“It’s nice that people appreciate our music and that we are being recognised on ‘a SAMA scale’. This is a great feeling.”
The Rockets - consisting of Jano van der Berg on bass guitar, new frontman Manuel Losper, Watt on guitar, percussionist Bruce Newman and keyboardist Ryan Smith - has been in existence for 52 years.
The band is up against fellow nominees 4 Werke ( 4 by 4), Brendan Peypers ( Dis Nie Sonde Nie), Snotkop ( SOUS) and Jan Bloukaas ( Lewe).
The theme for the SAMAs, 25 to Life, is in celebration of the event’s 25-year existence and is a “nostalgic trip into the past which provides a better understanding of the present, in a manner that excites us about the future,” organisers say.
SAMAs take place on 1 June.