St. Kitts-based gospel music record label JIFE Music received a record ten nominations in the 2018 Antigua and Barbuda Gospel and Media Awards (AGBMA), slated for April 21st at the Presidential Suite of the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium. President of the label Nyquan Nisbett, who is also an artist and producer on the label, received two nominations. His song Cover Meh, was nominated for Best Music Video and Best Gospel Soca.
The director of that music video Patrick Battice of Uphrunt Productions in Keys Village, St. Kitts was nominated for Best Director. Another JIFE Music artist Di Anointed Vale who nabbed three AGMBA Awards last year, was nominated for four categories this year. His music video for the hit single “Eternal Love” produced by Snap It Studios in St. Maarten was nominated for Best Video. The single was also nominated in the Best Reggae Category. The other two categories are Songwriter of the Year for Eternal Love and International Psalmist of the Year, a category he won last year.
JIFE Music newcomer D’ Furnace (Keron Thomas) from Trinidad and Tobago was nominated in the Best Gospel Soca category for his 2017 single Can’t Take My Joy Away. D’ Furnace signed on to JIFE Music last year and is due to release an album later this year under the label. The other two nominations for JIFE is in the media section of the awards. The label’s flagship radio program The JIFE Music Show was nominated in two categories: Best Radio Show (Inspirational) and Best Radio Show (Entertainment). The show is produced by Andre Huie, CEO of Palm Branch Media, the parent company of JIFE Music. “We are very elated with these nominations and look forward to the awards ceremony in Antigua on April 21st, Huie said in a press release. “We kindly encourage our fans to visit our Facebook page for the respective links in each category, click, vote and share. You can vote multiple times as well.”
Last year, JIFE Music’s Di Anointed Vale won three awards: Collaboration of the Year for his song Worship featuring Princess Vanessa from Guyana, International Psalmist of the Year (Male) and Vocalist of the Year (Male). Worship was featured on his debut album Blood A Jesus released in 2016, which was the first full length release under JIFE Music. This year’s award ceremony will see a performance from Caribbean gospel great Bridgette Blucher, who will receive the 2018 ABGMA Legend’s Award. This is the 4th installment of the award.
