In a bid to recognise, award, promote and preserve Africa’s rich music culture, the All Africa Music Award, (AFRIMA) is set to award excellence in Africa Music.
The recognition and award will be a lavish ceremony where the captains of industry, statesmen, artistes and fans will be celebrated in style.
The awards organisers said there are 31 categories which will celebrate excellence in different genres of music from classic, traditional to contemporary to production.
Speaking at a chat Michael Dada, CEO AFRIMA said the values of AFRIMA will continue to be fairness, authenticity, creativity, excellence, integrity and transparency.
“The winner will be awarded a trophy that is in the form of a Djembe drum and microphone,” he explained. He also said that the Djembe comes from the Bamana people of Mali who has a polpuakr saying that: ‘Anke dje, anke’ meaning ‘everyone gather together in peace.’
He revealed that the winners will emerge through a voting process which will occur via the AFRIMA Academy. He said the African public will be responsible for deciding winners in some of the categories and they have received over two thousand entries across Africa.
“The Academy of AFRIMA comprises of 523 members grouped into two layers of adjudicators spread across the five regions of Africa. There are 11 members of the College of Jury and 513 members of the screening and voting panel,” he said.
Steve Ayorinde, chairman, International Media Committee said the award is a continental award and the biggest artistic award to boost the career of African musicians adding that the nomination is an endorsement of their career and there is no monetary value attached to it.
Ayorinde disclosed that Nigeria won the bid to host AFRIMA for the next three years.
Oscar Kidjo, a member of the Jury from the Republic of Benin said they had a tough time in selecting the best since there are a lot of good artists in Africa and most of the musicians produce all by themselves.
Kidjo explained that over 60percent of the entries received were of good quality but it was reduced to about 30percent since the jury wanted excellence, adding that AFRIMA is a good platform to build musicians who are not good enough in Africa today to become excellent tomorrow.
“This is a total new award and to find over 2thousand people submitting their entries is quite a fit. As we looked at the different genres submitted, we saw people trying to break out of the mainstream, doing exceptional work,” said Rita Ray, a member of the Jury, representing Diaspora.
