TELL Magazine

The International Committee of the All Africa Music Awards, AFRIMA has received the 23.9-Karat gold plated trophy on Friday in Lagos.

The coveted trophy was received by Rikki Stein, AFRIMA International Advisor.

The trophy, which was produced by an award trophy making company ‘Awards4u’ based in the United Kingdom, UK, was conceived and visualised by Mike Dada, AFRIMA executive producer and designed by Ademola Tajudeen, the Assistant Artistic Director of AFRIMA.

The award trophy is a blend of traditional and contemporary elements of music, the African Djembe drum and a microphone.

It went through series of technical processes for it to be realised. The first stage was the creation of a clay model of the trophy followed by moulds creation from which resin model was made.

After producing this, it was cleaned, smoothened and prepared for copper plating, polishing and finally deepened into 23.9-karat gold molten (hardened with nickel) with 99.58% gold concentration.

When this process was completed, the trophy was then mounted on a base and information plate was inscribed.

The Djembe drum is a musical instrument of the Bamana people of Mali. Djembe is coined from a popular saying in the Bamana culture “Anke dje, anke”, which translates to “Everyone gathers together in peace” in English. The microphone is the contemporary device that transforms the acoustic signal of a vocal performance into electrical signals and filtered into the sounds we hear.

The fusion of these two musical instruments reflects AFRIMA’s goal to bridge the gap between the classic and contemporary musicians of Africa. It seeks to unite and celebrate all forms of African music irrespective of its era.

Dada while receiving the trophy with excitement said, “We all feel very much relieved, delighted and fulfilled having the trophy, there is nothing as good as visualising a thing and making it a reality, this was exactly the picture of the trophy we had in mind for years and now we have it in our hands for the glory and image of Africa to the pride of prospective award winners.”