After a rigorous process of collating, screening, grading and auditing the flood of quality entries that were submitted for the 2014 All Africa Music Awards, AFRIMA, the International Committee for the event has finally announced the nominees’ list. The list, which was unveiled at Protea Hotel, Maryland Estate, Lagos, had Oscar Kidjo, a seasoned music producer, representing West Africa, Mike Dada; Executive Producer/President, Matlou Tsotetsi; Director Brand Communication and Sponsorship, Steve Ayorinde; Chairman, International Media Committee, and Kingsley James; Co Producer/Country Director, Nigeria in attendance. Other attendees included African music industry personalities, heads of partner corporate organisations and music industry stakeholders.
Although popular names in the continental music industry showed up on the highly anticipated nominees’ list, the nominations of a generous number of emerging African artistes in many award categories brought more excitement into the event.
Among the well-known African music names on the nominees list are: Mafikizolo (South Africa) 6 nominations, Davido (Nigeria) 6 nominations, Uhuru (South Africa) 5 nominations and Mi Casa (South Africa) 4 nominations, Zahara (South Africa) 3 nominations, Diamond Platnumz (Tanzania) 2 nominations, Amr Diab (Egypt) 2 nominations, Angelique Kidjo (Benin Republic) 2 nominations, Fally Ipupa (DRC) 1 nomination, Sakordie (Ghana) 1 nomination, Tiwa Savage (Nigeria) 2 nominations. Leading the budding music acts on AFRIMA Nominees’ List is: TemiDollFace (Nigeria) 4 nominations, others are Wiyaala (Ghana) 3 nominations; Patoranking (Nigeria) 2 nominations; Davina Green (Zimbabwe) 1 nomination and Noura Mint Seymale (Mauritania) 2 nominations, among others.
Heavyweight African music producer, Don Jazzy (Nigeria) made the Africa Producer of the Year category for the song ‘Eminado’ alongside top contenders: Robbie Malinga & Mojela Thebe (South Africa) for ‘Impilo’; Uhuru (South Africa) for ‘Tchelete’; Mikky Me (Nigeria) ‘Down’ and Del’B (Nigeria) for ‘Pull Over’.
Giving details into the criteria by which the nominees list emerged, Tsotetsi explained that the jury panel adhered strictly to the entry submission requirements while being guided by AFRIMA’s core values of FACE IT –Fairness, Authenticity, Creativity, Excellence, Integrity and Transparency. “The adjudication panel of jurors consisting of experienced names in the continental and global music industry were in Lagos in July to evaluate the submitted works. The entries, which made the laid down criteria and qualified on merit, were shortlisted, based on their scores and this was sent to our Kenya-based auditors who then tabulated these scores”, Tsotetsi stated.
While 30 of the 32 award categories will be open for voting by the public and AFRIMA Academy of Voters, Dada revealed that recipients of the AFRIMA Legend Award and the Africa Entertainment/Music Journalist Award will be decided by the International Committee of AFRIMA and announced at the main awards ceremony on Sunday, November 9, 2014.
Mike Dada said further that the AFRIMA voting online platform will open on Tuesday, September 30 for the five-week voting process, while encouraging the public, fans and followers of African music to visit the AFRIMA website to view the nominees in the 30 categories of the award and vote for their favourite artiste (s).
For the 2014 edition, the award project opened entries on May 15 and closed the submission of entries on July 21 in the process receiving a staggering total of 2,025 works for assessment submitted by African music industry artistes, professionals and journalists.
In partnership with the African Union Commission, AFRIMA promises to be a premium star-studded event on November 9, preceded by the AFRIMA Music Village between November 4 and 7, a four-day festival style open concert of non-stop music, fanfare and exhibition from countries in Africa and performances by African artistes. There will also be an African Music Summit, November 6 – 7, themed “Reviving the Business of Music in Africa”. The two-day conference will be a platform for the music industry stakeholders to engage and deliberate on how the industry can be nurtured and be a major contributor to national and continental economies.
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