AU, AFRIMA unveil nominees for sixth music award
The African Union (AU) and the international committee of the All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA) yesterday unveiled the nominees for the regional category of the award’s sixth edition.
At a briefing in Lagos, the organisers said voting will begin on September 1 and end on November 22.
Continental and regional nominees in the 36 AFRIMA awarding categories will compete for the coveted 23.9 carats gold-plated AFRIMA Trophy.
Nominees will depend on their fans and followers spread across the globe to vote for them in an open voting process via the AFRIMA website www.afrima.org
The 2019 AFRIMA ceremony is scheduled to hold from November 20 to 23.
The 2019 nominees’ list for regional and continental category was chosen from 8,157 song and video entries received through an online portal, which closed on August 2.
The remaining 25 continental categories will be released on August 23 after auditing by AFRIMA’s international auditors.
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Entries for the regional category for Best Female Artistes and Best Male Artistes came from Western, Southern, Eastern, Northern, and Central Africa.
Shatta Wale, Kizz Daniel, Salif Keita and Burna Boy will be competing for the Best Male category in Western Africa; Teniola, Simi, Aya Nakamura, Mzvee, Yemi Alade, among others, will be competing for the Best Female category in Western Africa.
Dominating Central Africa are Blanche Baily, Charlotte Dipanda, Daphne, Locko, Magasco and Salatiel.
For Eastern Africa, the contenders including Sheebah from Uganda, Vanessa Mdee from Tanzania, Nikita Kering from Kenya; Tanzanian Rayvanny and Mboso, and Kenyan Khaligraph Jones and Nyashinski.
Moroccan Yann’Sine, Ahmed Soultan, Amiinux, Algerian Soolking, Cairokee from Egypt and Salma Rachid from Morocco will be battling it out in the Northern region for Best Male and Female category.
South African artistes on the list include AKA, Nasty C, Cassper Nyovest, Sjava, Black Coffee, Kelly Khumalo, Zonke, Nadia Nakai, among others.
Amara Brown, Tamy Moyo, Jah Prayzah, and Winky D also lock down few spots for Zimbabwe in the Southern regional category.
A 13-man jury underwent a week-long process of thoroughly screening and grading the songs, which produced between August 1, last year and August 2.
A member of the jury, Chris Cyren, said the nominees were rigorously assessed based on quality of works received.
He praised AFRIMA for its sense of inclusiveness and for using music as a tool for integration.
AU Head of Culture Mrs. Angela Martins, via a video conference call, said AFRIMA has the capacity to promote the African culture positively.
She called for more support for the continental initiative.
