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Tag: AFRIMA

  • AFRIMA unveils nominees

    DEMOCRATIC Republic of Congo-born international recording artiste and rapper, Maître Gims and South Africa’s fast rising songstress and songwriter, Shekhinah, have received seven nominations each to emerge highest nominated artistes for the 5th edition of the All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA).

    This was reflected in the AFRIMA’s highly anticipated full list of the Regional and Continental categories of the annual awards scheme, released on Tuesday.

    Closely following these top contenders are Tanzania’s Diamond Platnumz and Ethiopia’s Betty G who, each, earned six nominations; while Simi (Nigeria) and Nasty C

    (South Africa) got on the 5th AFRIMA nominees list with five nominations each.

    AFRIMA rewards the continent’s music professionals in 36 Regional and Continental categories, including four new awards categories namely African DJ of the Year; Best African Dance/Choreography; African Lyricist/Rapper of the Year and Best African Act in Diaspora, introduced in June 2018 by the African Union and the International Committee of AFRIMA to give room for expansion and inclusiveness in the African music industry.

    The Regional Category, which consists of Best Female artistes and Best Male artistes in the five regions of Africa, features 79 nominees while the continental category which honours exceptional work in different African music genres, boasts of 260 nominees with both categories making up a total number of 339 music professionals and songs nominated for the 2018 edition of the continental awards.

    “This year, through the 8,009 entries submitted by African music professionals across the globe and the painstaking work of the International Jury of AFRIMA embodied by 13 renowned African music and culture professionals assessing the submitted entries, the 5th AFRIMA Nominees List has remained true to the AFRIMA tradition of discovering authentically fresh African voices and music while also recognising the hard work and diligence of consistent chart topping music makers,” says AFRIMA CEO, Mike Dada.

    Acording to an AFRIMA Juror representing Eastern Africa, Mr. Tabu Osusa; “This year, AFRIMA registered a record number of entries in its competition. We were very pleased to notice that mostly new talents have entered the competition. The 13 jurors had a hard task going through over 8000 talented and creative entries. It resulted in heated sessions and far from unanimous decisions. Being an odd number of jurors revealed to be a blessing allowing us to make decisions by the majority. After a lot of sweat, long discussions and late hours, the jurors designated the best artistes in each given genre. It is now up to the public to go through this process and help to find the new African talents!”

    Leading the nomination pack, Maître Gims’ has received nods for Album of the Year (for his March 2018 released ‘Ceinture Noire’ album); Artiste of the Year, Best Artiste in African Pop, Song of the Year, Song Writer of the Year, Best African Collaboration and Best Male Artiste in Central Africa.

    Nigeria’s Simi has earned five nominations namely: Album of the Year (For Simisola’ released in September 2018), Artiste of the Year, Song Writer of the Year, Best Artiste in African Pop, and Best Female Artiste in Western Africa.

    Public voting is open onfrom today, where both continental and regional nominees in the 36 AFRIMA awarding categories will compete against one another for the coveted 23.9 carat 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 www.afrima.org

    In its fifth year, AFRIMA, is scheduled to hold in late November 2018, other activities scheduled for the main awards events include the Africa Music Business Summit, a combination of musical conference and trade expo where stakeholders in the creative and arts industry come together to discuss the business of music in Africa. There is also the AFRIMA Music Village, a music concert and cultural festival which accommodates over 40,000 music lovers across the continent who will witness live performances from their favourite African artistes.

  • AU, AFRIMA release Nominees List

    •Public voting to commence Monday, August 27

    A total of 79 songs made it to the Regional nominees list out of 8,009 entries submitted for the 5th All Africa Music Awards, AFRIMA, scheduled to hold in November 2018. The list was last Tuesday unveiled by the African Union Commission, AUC, and the International Jury of AFRIMA, at the Eko Hotels & Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos.

    The released nominees list covers the five Regional Categories divided into Female and Male categories.

    Cameroon takes up four of the eight spots in the category for Best Female Artiste in Central Africa, followed by DRC (2), and Angola (2). In the category for Best Male Artiste in Central Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) takes the lead with five spots followed by Cameroon (2) and Chad (1). From Eastern Africa, the female category Kenya holds three spots while Uganda takes two with Ethiopia, Rwanda and Tanzania occupying one spot respectively. In the male category, Kenya and Tanzania maintain three nominations each, with Ethiopia and Uganda registering one nomination apiece.

    The Algerian female artistes occupy four out of the six spots in the category for Best Female Artiste in Northern Africa, with Tunisia and Egypt holding one spot each. The Male category has Moroccan artistes occupying four of the eight spots, Algeria (2), Egypt and Tunisia earning one nomination each. The Southern African region is dominated by South African artistes both in the male and female categories, with a total of nine spots, followed by Zimbabwe (3), while Swaziland, Namibia, Malawi, and Zimbabwe take one spot each.

    The Western region Male category is having great contenders between Nigeria and Ghana. Holding up 4 spots is Nigeria, closely followed by Ghana (3), while Guinea and Cape Verde hold 1 spot each. The Best Female Artiste in the Western region has Nigeria and Ghana in a tie of 2 spots respectively, with Benin (1), Mali (1), Senegal (1), and Cote d’Ivoire (1).

    The spokesperson for the International Jury of AFRIMA and the Programme Director, Cameroon TV and Radio, CRTV, Mr. Robert Ekukole (representing Eastern Africa) said: “The AFRIMA Nominees list we arrived at reflects and represents the top-notch creative expressions of music talents and professionals within the relevant regions and validity period. However, we also have a challenge where some artistes failed to enter for the awards and as such missed the opportunity to be evaluated or possibly nominated for AFRIMA.”

    The AFRIMA adjudication is carried out electronically via the proprietary AFRIMA Adjudication Software, which was designed by AFRIMA in 2014, has been deployed for use since the 2015 annual adjudication process.

    Public voting opens on the AFRIMA website, www.afrima.org, on Monday, August 27, 2018 to determine who wins the coveted 23.9 carat gold-plated AFRIMA Trophy in 38 categories.

    Other activities scheduled for the main awards events is the Africa Music Business Roundtable and the AFRIMA Music Village, a music concert and cultural festival that accommodates over 40,000 music lovers to witness live performances from African artistes.

  • AU, AFRIMA release Nominees List

    •Public voting to commence
    Monday, August 27

    A total of 79 songs made it to the Regional nominees list out of 8,009 entries submitted for the 5th All Africa Music Awards, AFRIMA, scheduled to hold in November 2018. The list was last Tuesday unveiled by the African Union Commission, AUC, and the International Jury of AFRIMA, at the Eko Hotels & Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos.

    The released nominees list covers the five Regional Categories divided into Female and Male categories.

    The spokesperson for the International Jury of AFRIMA and the Programme Director, Cameroon TV and Radio, CRTV, Mr. Robert Ekukole (representing Eastern Africa) said: “The AFRIMA Nominees list we arrived at reflects and represents the top-notch creative expressions of music talents and professionals within the relevant regions and validity period.”

    Public voting opens on the AFRIMA website, www.afrima.org, on Monday, August 27, 2018 to determine who wins the coveted 23.9 carat gold-plated AFRIMA Trophy in 38 categories.

     

  • AFRIMA: Jurors arrive Lagos today

    Ahead of the All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA)’s nominees’ list to be unveiled on August 14, 2018, a 13-man international jury will be in Lagos today for a week-long adjudication process.

    This stage follows the close of entries few weeks ago with a record submission of 8,009 songs/videos from African artistes.

    AFRIMA’s partner hotel, Eko Hotels & Suites, Lagos, will host the jurors representing the five regions of Africa, the diaspora (Europe and North America) and the African Union Commission who will be deciding the artistes and recordings to be nominated for the 5th AFRIMA.

    The Jury will be screening, categorising, assessing, grading and selecting nominees into the 38 different regional and continental categories for the 23.9 carat gold-plated AFRIMA trophy.

    Members of the jury are drawn from each region of Africa, and one African music professional, each, representing the Diaspora; (i.e. Europe and North America), and a representative of the African Union Commission.

    Western Africa representatives include prolific Nigerian broadcaster Olisa Adibua, and Côte d’Ivoire music legend David Tayorault.

    AFRIMA, the biggest music awards event in Africa, in partnership with the African Union Commission, recognizes, celebrates and rewards musical creativity and talents across the continent and globally.

    This year’s event will hold in November 2018 with a programme of events that include the Africa Music Business Summit; The AFRIMA Music Village and the main awards ceremony to be broadcast live to over 84 countries.

  • AFRIMA: Submission of entries to end August 1

    Ahead of the August 1, 2018 deadline for submission of songs and videos to be nominated for the 5th annual All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA), organisers have urged artistes to send in their entries to compete in the 36 regional and continental award categories.

    The Award ceremony is scheduled for November with live broadcast to over 80 countries around the world.

    Organised by the African Union Commission in partnership with the International Committee of AFRIMA, announced its call for entries for the 2018 edition of the awards on May 25 and thereby opened its online portal – www.afrima.org –  to receive songs and videos recorded or produced by African music professionals either living on the continent or in the diaspora within the eligibility period of August 1, 2017 to August 1, 2018.

    AFRIMA recently introduced four new award categories to enable more creative professionals in the music and entertainment industry participate in the process, giving room for expansion and inclusiveness. The newly introduced categories are Best African DJ; Best African Dance/Choreography; Best African Lyricist/Rapper of the Year and Best African Act in Diaspora.

    Speaking on the countdown, AFRIMA Country Director, South Africa, Mr. Lekunutu Sekobo, advised African artistes yet to enter their works to take advantage of the few days remaining.

    “I would like to urge all musicians, record labels, music producers, music managers and the recording industry of Africa at large to take full advantage of the few days remaining before submissions closes on the 1st of August. I encourage you to submit your crafts or submit on behalf of your clients in any of the suitable award categories. Africans should embrace this initiative by AFRIMA and show full cooperation and support. AFRIMA is the biggest platform where Africans are showing immense enthusiasm through music and art.”

    He further added: “I would also like to call on the Department of Arts and Culture under Minister Nathi Mthethwa and the Department of Tourism under Minister Derek Hanekom not excluding corporate South Africans to embrace and give full support to AFRIMA’s vision for Africa’s Cultures Renaissance so we can overcome the challenges confronting our continent as former President Thabo Mbeki championed in his term of office.”

    Once the AFRIMA submission portal closes on August 1, the screening and adjudication process commences on August 7 by the 13-man AFRIMA International Jury who are experienced and expert African music professionals.

    Immediately after the week-long adjudication process, the 2018 AFRIMA Nominees List will be unveiled and nominated artistes, songs and videos will then have to slug it out with other regional and continental music contemporaries and legends to emerge winners of the AFRIMA 23.9 carat gold plated trophy.

    Meanwhile, the Director, Brand Communication, AFRIMA, Ms. Matlou Tsotetsi has challenged African governments and corporate bodies to throw their weight behind the advocacy initiative of AFRIMA.

    “AFRIMA Main Awards has been held for four years spearheaded by a coalition of music, production, culture and media professionals,” she said.

    “We’ve had amazing support across the continent, especially from the government of Nigeria which hosted in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017. We are immensely appreciative of the government of Lagos State in Nigeria and some corporate organisations from Nigeria and other countries. In our fifth edition, this is the perfect opportunity for other African governments to also align themselves with this Pan African project, because it really does say that they are part of the Pan African community.

    “I am calling on the government of South Africa, my home country, to throw her weight behind AFRIMA. South Africa will be sending a very positive message to the rest of the world, and also eradicate the perception that South Africans are not warm enough or welcoming enough to other Africans across the continent.”

    In its efforts to reward music creativity and talent in Africa, AFRIMA also stimulates conversations among Africans and between Africa and the rest of the globe about the great potentials and values of the African musical and artistic heritage for the purpose of creating jobs, reducing poverty, calling the attention of world leaders to Africa and promoting the positive image of Africa to the world for global competitiveness.

  • AFRIMA adds four categories

    THE All Africa Music Awards, AFRIMA, has included four new categories, as a way of expanding the reward scope.

    In its 5th edition, AFRIMA had opened for online submission on Friday, May 25 to commemorate the 2018 Africa Day.

    The newly introduced award categories are, African DJ of the Year; Best African Dance/Choreography; African Lyricist/Rapper of the Year and Best African Act in Diaspora (Female & Male).

    According to AFRIMA secretariat, the need to expand the reward table, followed consultations with African music stakeholders made up of the AFRIMA Academy of Voters and members of the International Committee of AFRIMA in response to the yearnings and requests of stakeholders, DJ’s, dancers and artistes in diaspora.

    AFRIMA awards categories are divided into two: Continental and Regional categories. The Continental Category rewards African artistes in various music genres and forms ranging from pop, hip hop, inspirational, jazz, electro, DJ and more, while the Regional Category celebrates the outstanding achievements of African artistes within their specific region of origin.

    African DJ of the Year; Best African Dance/Choreography; African Lyricist/Rapper of the Year and Best African Act in Diaspora all fall under the Continental Category. In addition, the Best African Act in Diaspora is dedicated to artistes with African roots/origin who practice their craft in the international music industry and have prominence and renowned on the international music stage. The artiste’s music style could either be in the traditional or contemporary forms of expression.

    The awards ceremony is slated for November 2018 and it will be broadcast live to 84 countries around the globe.

     

  • AFRIMA entry submission opens

    Entry submissions opened on Friday, for the All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA) in commemoration of Africa Day.

    And African music professionals have until August 1, 2018, to submit their works, songs and videos recorded or produced and publicly released on AFRIMA’s online portal, www.afrima.org. To qualify, the works must have been done within August 1, 2017 and August 1, 2018. These entries will compete for possible nomination by the AFRIMA Jury in one or more of the 36 categories of the awards.

    The AFRIMA Jury, consisting of 13 members, with vast experience and practice in African music and culture is charged with overseeing the AFRIMA Adjudication process to ensure a thorough and fair screening, categorizing, assessing and selecting process of AFRIMA 2018 nominees. Nominees are expected to emerge to populate the Regional and Continental awarding categories of AFRIMA in different genres of music ranging from African contemporary to electro, traditional, reggae/ragga/dancehall, hip-hop, R n B, rap and rock.

     

  • Seyi Shay falls on AFRIMA stage

    Seyi Shay falls on AFRIMA stage

    While performing her hit track, ‘YOLO YOLO’, at AFRIMA 2017 on Sunday, Nigerian singer Seyi Shay fell on stage.

    Dancing barefooted on the stage set up at the Eko Hotel Convention Centre, Lagos, Seyi, dressed in a black pants and jacket in a light material and a cape, slipped as she moved on the stage.

    Though, she deftly stood up and calmly continued her performance which was backed up by four dancers. Seyi would however, say ‘the devil is a liar’ as she completed her performance.

    Seyi Shay, whose fall as gone viral was described by many as showing professiinalism, by her quick composure after the accident.

    She was among the first set of performers on the night.

    Wizkid and Tiwa Savage who were announced as Best Male Artiste Western Africa and Best Female Artiste Western Africa respectively were, as at the time of this report, conspicuously absent at the event.

    The show is broadcast live on Dstv and Gotv channels.

  • Digitisation, way to promote African Music— AFRIMA Discussants

    Digitisation, way to promote African Music— AFRIMA Discussants

    Discussants at the All Africa Music Award (AFRIMA) 2017, on Friday unanimously called for digitisation of music produced in the African continent, to ensure global competitiveness.

    The discussants, who made the call at the Music Business Round table of the 2017 AFRIMA in Lagos, said that Africa should not be tardy with digitisation of its music brands.

    The event had as its theme: “Digital Takeover: Shaping the Future of African Music, Money, and Media.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that AFRIMA is a world-class event that holds annually with live performances by celebrity artistes and televised broadcast to 84 countries around the world.

    Some of the panelists include General Manager , Sony Music (West Africa),Michael Ugwu; the Chief Executive Officer, (CEO), Lead Consultant, Kelvin Orifa and CEO, Kalakuta Sunrise Ltd, Rikki Stein.

    Others include, Managing Director, Trace T.V, Sam Onyemelukwe and Head of Culture Division, Department of Social Affairs, African Union, Angela Martins.

    Ugwu said that embracing digitisation would not only boost the revenue from the entertainment industry, but also put it on the global map.

    “We need to get it right that digitisation will help a lot in our projection to the global market; the more we participate the more our music travels.

    “It has a lot of impact aside of the monetary values. Many of the artistes are terrified of live streaming of their music asking what they would gain from it since it’s been streamed live.

    “There are lots of gains in it; there are lots of negotiations going on about the benefits of live streaming though I also have a bad experience with one of my clients.

    “Sometimes live streaming allows for the global views of music because it travels faster than putting on a site for people to download, which may consume more data,’’ he said.

    Speaking in the same vein, the Chief Executive Officer, (CEO), Lead Consultant, Kelvin Orifa, said that there were lots of opportunity in the marketing of music.

    According to him, the only thing left for the artistes is to provide the right content.

    “I had to resign my job at one of the leading communication companies to pursue a career in marketing of music which I found rewarding.

    “I think with the right content, music from Africa is on the right path, we now have more demands for African music and more collaboration with African Musicians.

    “We still need more content to be out there and compete well in the global circuit. My companies now have been able to gather experience in interacting with other segment in the market.

    “We should take knowledge of the market seriously and add it to capacity building of our musicians,’’ he said.

    Orifa said that marketing music need a lot of projection as to when to expect yields from the music and also the benefits the content providers would derive from their intellectual property.

    “Music marketers must take a short term and long term view of their production. It is by finding the environment where the music will sell and be appreciated.

    “A lot of music companies have been in existence for many years but not persistent today because here we are today; about 15 years ago the world bloggers didn’t exist.

    “The industry like other industry are brands and products, they existed years ago but now going into extinction. We need to have projection because of the dynamics of digitisation.

    “A very strong brand will have a history, a story line of where it’s coming from. So, projection is the key to the digitisation,’’ he said.

    Also, Onyemelukwe of Trace Music, said that artistes need to be patient with their music before thinking they are on the world map..

    “Digitisation is a boom; we need to do more of live streaming for the world to see. Many people around the world now want to listen to African tunes online.

    “Although the bandwidth in Africa as regards to live streaming is still low, we need something above the present 4G network that we are using, we need 5G.

    “Digitisation of our music makes it travel faster and make it known to the world. We may say that it is not very profitable, but it takes artists to places where they can never imagine,’’ he said.

    The CEO, Kalakuta Sunrise Ltd, Rikki Stein said that the music from Africa could dominate the world if musicians could come out with more appealing contents.

    “We see many good musicians in Africa who we will like to partner, but we need more content because some are dry of ideas after a major boost.

    “Tunes from Africa are appealing most especially contemporary music. Good music is played in bars, in clubs and I wonder why such music is not out there on the global scene.

    “The reason is that we have not gone digital enough, more people need to appreciate the music to get recognition and invitation to world concerts.

    “I also don’t understand why we say Africans cannot pay to watch concerts, if the music is good, they will pay, it is a matter of content,’’ he said.

  • Wizkid, Davido battle for 2017 AFRIMA trophy

    Wizkid, Davido battle for 2017 AFRIMA trophy

    Nigerian music Arch-rivals, Wizkid and Davido, may have yet another face-off as nominees at the All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA) 2017 scheduled for Nov. 12 in Lagos.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Wizkid and Davido, two of Africa’s most popular music stars, are up for the Best Male category award in West Africa.

    Femi Morgan, the organiser’s spokesperson, said in a statement in Lagos that the event which is to reward the best of African artistes, has led to a massive voting campaigns by nominated artistes.

    He said that the artistes would be relying on the love from music lovers to win the 23.9 Carat plaited gold AFRIMA trophy.

    Morgan listed other Nigerian music divas on the list to include Aramide, Seyi Shay, Tiwa Savage, and Yemi Alade who will be contending with Ghanaian pop-star, Becca, Malian Grammy Award winner, Oumo Sangare and Senegalese Pop-singer.

    Also, Viviane Chidid, to prove which star has the most dynamic voice to win the gold trophy for best Female Act.

    According to Morgan, the nominated artistes are pulling up their sleeves to slug it out with their regional and continental music contemporaries and legends at the event.

    “Southern African female nominees have some scores to settle at the 2017 AFRIMA Awards.

    “Amanda Black and Babes Woduno started a fresh beef at the
    South Africa Music Awards23, when Amanda Black beat Babes Woduno to SA’s Best Female Artiste of the Year awards 2017.”

    “She might get her rep back if she sweeps all contestants to win the Best Female Artiste in Southern Africa at AFRIMA 2017. Old rivalries in SA might rear its head at the Awards as AKA gets nominated in the same category as Nasty C and Emtee,” Morgan said.

    Morgan said, “other stars battling for recognition and rep are SA Jah Prayzah, Legend Jazzist, Hugh Masekela, and Nduduzo Makhatini.

    “The Cameroonians divas claim to run the show in the Central Africa region, as five nominated music divas bring to battle their different musical styles to win the 23.9 carat gold award.

    “The Gabonese Popstar, Bussine and the Angolan pop queen, Nsoki is in the game to burst their bubble and win the award for their home countries.

    “Meanwhile the King of Central Africa will emerge when Angola’s star RnB Sensation, Anselmo Ralph and Hip Hop star, Big Nelo while charges against DRC Makossa star, Fally Ipupa and RnB International Ke Black and Pop Star, Maitre Gims and the Cameroonians Pop artistes, Jovi and romantic RnB singer, Mr Locko.

    “Four Tanzanian divas are gunning for the awards for the Eastern region; they include Vanessa Mdee, who won the 2014 AFRIMA awards in the same Best Female Artiste in Eastern Africa category.”

    “She is pitched against Tanzanian love singers Feza, Lady Jaydee, and Nandy.

    Uganda’s Juliana Kanyomozi is a music big fish who will clash Kenya’s Victoria Kimani despite her West African and East African base,” he said.

    He also said that stars performing at the event include Cote D’ivoire’s DJ Arafat, Guinea’s MHD, Nigeria’s Mr Eazi, Runtown, Teckno and YCEE.

    AFRIMA is a world-class event that holds annually with live performances from star-studded artistes and television broadcast to 84 countries around the world.