Organisers of the All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA) on Monday unveiled the nominees for the 2016 edition of the continental music fiesta.
Leading the nominees for best female artiste in Western Africa are Nigeria’s Seyi Shay, Tiwa Savage, Yemi Alade, Temi Doll Face, Aramide and Niniola with the songs Right Now, If I Start to Talk, Na Go De, School Your Face, I Don’t Care and J’ete respectively.
Others are Adiouza from Senegal with Daddy and Josey of Cote d’Ivoire with Diplome.
Brymo, Flavour, Tekno and WizKid were nominated in the best male category alongside Okyeame Kwame and Sarkodie both of Ghana. Sidikiba Diabate Fais Moi of Mali completes the category.
According to the moderator of the adjudication process, Mike Strano, about 2700 entries from African music professional were received from May 20, 2016 to July 30, 2016.
Describing the nomination process as careful and thorough, Mr. Strano harped on the jury’s resolve to be fair and transparent.
“The jury is very careful about being accurate right from the process of verifying eligibility of entries to the process collating and finalising results. It is an evolving process but one we work painstakingly at to ensure transparency and fairness”, he explained.
Speaking further, Strano, who is the Regional Director, Eastern Africa/Co-Producer, AFRIMA said, “There are 34 categories of the award but only 10 are released today August 22, which are the regional categories. A new category introduced this year is the “People’s Choice Award” which comes out from a healthy debate by the International Committee of AFRIMA and the jury.”
The best female artistes and best male artistes of the five regions in Africa were released on Monday while the nominees in the continental categories will follow seven days after.
Describing the jurors’ experience as rewarding, the Head, Culture Division, African Union Commission (AUC), Angela Martins, reiterated the AU and AFRIMA’s objectives of unity among African artistes and the need for continental integration while celebrating its rich music and heritage.
She said, “The adjudication process was very rewarding and as one privileged to be part of the jury, I was able to discover the widespread talents in the different regions of our beloved continent. Now, that the AFRIMA adjudication has been finalised, we expect that in the coming months, Africans will recognise these nominated artistes by putting in votes for all of them.”
Public voting for the nominees in the different categories of the awards will open on August 30.
