Finally, a Grammy African category.
on the 14th of June 2023, the recording academy announced a new category for African music
tagged, “Best African Music Performance.”
in a bid to accurately celebrate and represent
the various cultures, influences and genres that shape our world.
The recording academy decided to include an African music category for the very first time
in the 66th Grammy Awards, taking place next year
the award has an end-goal of recognizing and honoring the very best in music from across the Globe.
what all that means in simpler terms is that
the Grammy’s have realized that Afrobeat’s needs a separate category on it’s own
as a leading genre in the global music scene.
Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. said
the changes reflect their commitment to actively listen and respond to feedback from their music community
to accurately represent a diverse range of relevant musical genres
and stay aligned with the ever-evolving musical landscape.
Afro beats (African Music’s biggest export) has been on a meteoric rise in recent years.
the term coined for the popular music coming out of west Africa
is an off-shoot of Afro beat (without an s) originated by
the west African and Nigerian music legend, Fela Kuti.
with the former being more formal and engineered
and the latter being more orchestral and political.
Afro beats Arguably had it’s biggest year last year
with two of it’s biggest stars Burna Boy and Wizkid
Both taking home Grammy awards.
Afro beats is set to reach even higher heights this year
with Tems bagging her first Grammy earlier this year
and Rema making waves with his record breaking smash hit “Clam down”
featuring Selena Gomez on the remix.
the record is currently the most streamed African Song of all time
and sitting comfortably at number 3 on the billboard hot 100 global music charts.
African music also had the most nominations for African artists for the BET awards
with the 2023 BET.
it’s safe to say that at this point in history
for the Grammy’s not to acknowledge African music
as a distinct genre requiring a separate category
is just plain cultural and music tone-deafness.
what do you think about the new Grammy African category?
is the recording academy acknowledging African music at the right time?
or is this something they should have done long before now?
