Being nominated as two of the new artists of the year nominees for the Yumi FM PNG Musik Awards 2023, the Ewanetz Band of Oro and Shadows of Souths were grateful and stoked. Ewanetz band, which is comprised of two main singers-Emmanuel Jogioba and Leslie Panaro were nominated for their song Kalabus Mahn, which features another big PNG name in music- Eldiz Mune. They explained that ‘Kalabus Mahn’ was a song they wrote about the daily struggles of the average youth who spends his time taking part in criminal activities and when he gets caught and thrown in prison, he starts to regret the decisions that he made that put him there. “The song is about their struggles as youths that are faced with these issues and we hope that they learn valuable lessons from this song and change their ways.” The band stated that this nomination had come as a surprise as they were not expecting it, but they were happy and excited about the nomination. “This is our first time being nominated and we are so happy. It’s another type of happy feeling altogether.” They added that this nomination is only the beginning because they were working on new music that will be released this year and in the future. “We’ve been a bit busy with our lives but we’re working on a couple of new tracks that we hope to release soon and with this nomination, we are more inspired and motivated to keep on making music.” Ewanetz group are hoping to set good examples for the younger generation through their music. “We hope that our little ones can see us and aspire to be like us, but most importantly we hope they get into making music so it keeps them off the streets.” Also nominated for New Artist of the Year are the Shadows of Souths group which consists of four new talented singers- Mathias Max, Terence Wapa and Willie Monei and Stonky aka Jerome Isom in their hit song ‘Slave blo wokmoni’. According to the group, they have had four songs released that have been playing on-air, ‘Mosbi Meri’, ‘Lewa lewa’, ‘Slave blo wokmoni’ and their latest release ‘Shadow blo Souths’. Being new to the music industry, Shadows of Souths stated that they are appreciative of the nomination as they are a newly established band and received a nominated in their first year in the industry, which is quite a big deal for them. “We believe that music is another way to encourage people to leave things like drugs, crime and other illegal activities.” “We are very grateful for this nomination because it is sort of recognition from Yumi FM for our songs and we just want to thank Yumi FM for this opportunity.” Meanwhile, other nominees for the New Artist of the Year Awards 2023 are Legality for hit single ‘Mangi Bomai’ and the young singer from rainy Lae- Fisix. The winners will be announced on Saturday, June 1st, 2024 at the Lamana Gold Club.