Africa’s Grammys marks the hits of the ‘continent’

Music is a bridge

After a 15-year career in banking and marketing, Nigerian Mike Dada was looking for a platform to “communicate the strength of Africa to the rest of the world”.

He decided to set up Afrima – the All Africa Music Awards – Africa’s equivalent of the Grammys, whose fourth edition takes place this weekend in Ghana’s capital, Accra.

In 2014, penniless but passionate about music, he worked with private sponsors in Nigeria and a partner in Kenya.

Together, they organized the awards ceremony to “create jobs” and “make Africans proud”, he told local media, earning the backing of the African Union.

In four years, Afrima has managed to carve out a space as a platform to showcase the bubbling, innovative and prolific African music industry that has exploded in the past decade.

Contenders

In Accra, it’s not World Music the continent is going to celebrate.

Instead, it’s Afropop, the Nigerian-born style which mixes Congolese soukous, Ivorian coupe-decale, Ghanaian Highlife and Jamaican dancehall that has got Africa’s youth dancing.

“Music is a bridge,” said Olivier Laouchez, chief executive of Trace TV, a French music channel popular on the continent.

“In Senegal, we listen to Nigerian hits in nightclubs and South Africa’s kwaito (afro-house) is exported to all radio stations on the continent.

“Today, what is bringing Africa together... is sport and music.”

One category has been dedicated to artists from the vast diaspora.

This year, the contenders include Franco-Malian Aya Nakamura and the surprising Afrotronix, an artist of Chadian origin who dresses like Daft Punk and makes house music with Sahelian rhythms and lyrics in Spanish.

Maître Gims, who comes from Democratic Republic of Congo and is repeatedly played on French radio, has racked up more than 200 million views on YouTube with “J’me Tire” (“I’m outta here”) and is Afrima’s most nominated artist this year.

The rapper is as much of an unknown to Englishspeaking Africa as Nigeria’s Davido is to French audiences, despite his 100 million-plus views on YouTube.

“Thanks to Afrima we get to know musicians from all over the continent,” Oris Aigbokhaevbolo, a journalist with the Music in Africa website, told AFP.

Take, for example, Diamond Platnumz, a Tanzanian who hit the spotlight after winning three Afrima awards two years ago.

“Love you Die”, his duet with Nigeria’s Patoranking, is now being played around the world.

“Ghana has always been good (in terms of music) and countries like Sierra Leone or even Gambia are coming up,” said Aigbokhaevbolo, who in 2015 was named the continent’s best music journalist.

“It makes us feel that we are not the only country producing music on the continent”, said the Nigerian.

Still, despite efforts to create regional “best artist” categories, Nigeria and South Africa will dominate the evening. The big names are regular features from one year to the next: Nigeria’s Davido, Wizkid and Tiwa Savage are fixtures, while South Africa’s Cassper Nyovest and Nasty-C have made repeat appearances.

The two countries, sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest economies, have gone head-to-head for years.

Today, they are virtually the only countries on the continent to have sophisticated music industries, with professional production facilities, agents and copyright lawyers.

Even though South Africa may have a more modern industry, Nigerian artists benefit from a local market of 190 million people, boosting audience numbers.

Nakamura

LOS ANGELES:

Pink, Shawn Mendes, Chris Stapleton, Norah Jones, Mark Ronson, Leon Bridges and Lauren Daigle are the first round of performers announced for the 2019 MusiCares Person of the Year tribute concert honoring Dolly Parton, taking place during Grammy Week on Feb 8. Parton herself will close the evening’s performances; more guest contributors will be announced in the coming weeks.

Parton is being honored as the 2019 MusiCares Person of the Year in recognition of her significant creative accomplishments and longtime support of many charitable causes. Proceeds from the annual Person of the Year tribute – now in its 29th year – provide essential support for MusiCares (www.musicares.org), the charity founded by the Recording Academy that ensures music people have a place to turn in times of financial, medical, and personal need.

Last year’s honoree was Fleetwood Mac; their performance turned out to be the last to feature Lindsey Buckingham, who parted ways with the group just weeks later. Other past honorees include Tony Bennett, Bono, Neil Diamond, Bob Dylan, Gloria Estefan, Aretha Franklin, Billy Joel, Elton John, Quincy Jones, Carole King, Paul McCartney, Luciano Pavarotti, Tom Petty, Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder and Neil Young.

The Person of the Year gala will begin with a reception and silent auction offering an exclusive selection of luxury items, VIP experiences, and one-of-a-kind celebrity memorabilia for bidding guests. The reception and silent auction will be followed by a gala dinner sponsored by AEG; a live auction; a tribute concert featuring renowned musicians and other artists; and the award presentation.

Over the course of the last fiscal year, MusiCares provided more than $6.5 million dollars to approximately 8,600 members of the music industry — the largest number of clients served and dollars distributed in a single year in the charity’s history.

NEW YORK:

By Sophie Bouillon

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Jimmie Allen has made history as the first black artist to have his debut single reach No. 1 on country radio, and it happened in the same week Kane Brown, who is black and white, has the top country album in the US.

Allen says he cried when he got the news his song, “Best Shot”, hit the top spot on Billboard’s country airplay chart, which tracks radio success.

Brown’s sophomore album, “Experiment”, debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s 200 albums and country albums charts, respectively, this week.

Brown has had No. 1 hot country radio hits, but not with his debut song. (Agencies)