Black Mambazo’s 5th Grammy
SOUTH AFRICAN group Ladysmith Black Mambazo won their fifth Grammy award on Sunday in New York.
The group took the award for the Best World Music Album for their album Shaka Zulu Revisited: 30th Anniversary Celebration.
They tweeted: “We won the Grammy Award for Best World Music Album! Shaka Revisited. Our 5th Grammy Award. Such an honour. Thank U Grammy Awards. Thank you fans and friends. Thank you South Africa!”
Bruno Mars claimed the night’s biggest accolades at the 60th Grammy Awards, taking home trophies for Best Album, Record and Song Of The Year.
The event also gave visible support to the “Time’s Up” movement, with many performers and guests clad in white to speak out against sexual harassment and abuse which has been shown to be rife in the entertainment industry.
“You guys are the reason I’m in the studio pulling my hair out,” Mars told his fellow Best Album nominees, which included Jay-Z, Lorde and Childish Gambino.
The R&B singer won all six of the top awards he was nominated for, including prizes for album 24K Magic and Song of the Year for That’s What I Like.
Kendrick Lamar also won five Grammys, including Best Rap Album for DAMN.
“It is really about expressing yourself and putting that paint on the canvas for the world to evolve, for the next listener, the next generation after,” Lamar said during his acceptance speech for Best Rap Album.
The Compton-born rapper also took home the trophy for Best Rap/Sung Performance for Loyalty, featuring Rihanna.
Lamar, who had seven nominations, started his night well at the pre-show ceremony where he collected gongs for Best Music Video, Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song for Humble.
Canadian singer Alessia Cara beat rappers Khalid and Lil Uzi Vert as well as pop singer Julia Michaels and R&B singer SZA to claim the Grammy for Best New Artist.
“I’ve been, like, pretend-winning Grammys since I was a kid, like, in my shower, so you would think I have the speech thing down, but I absolutely don’t,” Cara said in her acceptance speech.
The Rolling Stones won Best Traditional Blues Album for Blue & Lonesome, while Canada’s Leonard Cohen posthumously won Best Rock Performance for You Want It Darker.
Carrie Fisher was also a posthumous winner, claiming Best Spoken Word Album for The Princess Diarist. The memoir is based on diaries she kept behind the scenes in 1977 when she was starring in Star Wars.
Veteran German electronic music band Kraftwerk won Best Dance/Electronic Album for their release 3-D The Catalogue. They previously received a Grammy for lifetime achievement in 2014.
The Sunday evening ceremony took place at New York’s Madison Square Garden for the first time in 15 years and featured performances from Lady Gaga, Pink, Rihanna, Elton John, Miley Cyrus, Kendrick Lamar, Kesha, U2 and Sting.
Singer Kesha brought tears to the eyes of many in the audience with a powerful performance of her song Praying.
The song, which deals with mental illness and alleged abuse Kesha suffered at the hands of her former music producer, was introduced by recording artist Janelle Monae.
“I am proud to stand in solidarity with my fellow sisters in this room who make up the music industry.
‘‘To those who would dare try and silence us, we offer you two words: ‘Time’s up,’” Monae said.
Monae wore a white rose in support of the #MeToo movement and the “Time’s Up” initiative, as did Kendrick Lamar, Lady Gaga, Miley Cirus, Khalid, Sam Smith, Alessia Cara and others.
Former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton made a surprise cameo appearance during the awards in a pretaped segment. She read from Fire and Fury, mocking US President Donald Trump.
Snoop Dogg, John Legend, Cher and Cardi B also read excerpts from the book. One of those most likely to have gone home disappointed was Jay-Z.
The rapper was the 2018 Grammy’s top nominee with eight nods, but didn’t win a single trophy and will have to seek solace in already having 21 Grammys in his trophy cabinet.