AFRIMA withdraws hosting rights from Ghana
Akufo Addo, president of Ghana, to host the awards in Ghana on May 21, 2018 during the AFRIMA 2018 calendar unveiling ceremony in Accra. Following that, Ghana’s hosting rights for the 5th AFRIMA was publicly announced by the African Union at the African Union Secretariat Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on September 5, 2018 and a letter signed by Amira El Fadil, commissioner of social affairs, African Union, dated September 13, 2018.
Speaking on the development, Rikki Stein, international advisor, AFRIMA, said, “It was a hard decision to withdraw the awards hosting rights for the next two years (2019 and 2020 editions) from Ghana. As an awards owned for the African people, it is structured to travel around the continent giving the people the true African experience.
We have some fond memories of our time in Ghana immersing ourselves in the lifestyle and music and we have formed great friendships among the Ghanaian people. We look forward to returning to Ghana at another time. However, we cannot afford to compromise the standard of the laudable vision of AFRIMA to create a truly African brand that connects Africans and build the equity of Africa. The situation faced in Ghana has the potential to erode the goodwill and giant strides we have achieved in Africa through the awards”.
Stein added that AFRIMA is geared to increase the tourism and entertainment equity of a host country as the host receives an influx of international and Africa dignitaries, AFRIMA nominees, music stars and executives who attend the four-day programme of activities. AFRIMA further offers benefits that would help in raising the continental and international profile of the host country, including an opportunity to tap into the millions of participants and followers of the growing African music.
The African Union had enjoyed a successful and effective hosting partnership with the Federal Republic of Nigeria that won the right to host the four editions from 2014-2017.
However, the International Committee of AFRIMA has said it is working to determine a new host country for the 6th edition of AFRIMA and that it would be announced in August 2019. After five outstanding editions of AFRIMA from 2014 to 2018, the 6th edition will continue in the tradition of celebrating the scintillating musical culture of Africa by featuring exhilarating Pan-africa events through the lifespan of the calendar year in 2019.
The events on the AFRIMA 2019 calendar include the ‘Call for Entry/entry Submission’, which opened on May 15 to end on August 2, a process when African music professionals from across the continent submit their musical works, songs and recordings via the official AFRIMA website www.afrima.org for a possible shot at nomination in one or more of the 36 categories of AFRIMA.
The 6th AFRIMA Main Awards Ceremony, a four-day fiesta of music, glamour, Afrocentricism and entertainment, holds in November in the official awards Host City. The four-day event commences with the Welcome Soiree followed by the AFRIMA Music Village, the Host City Tour, the Africa Music Business Summit, the exclusive Nominees Party and concludes with the live Awards Ceremony. Fans of African music globally can follow along and take part in the AFRIMA 2019 events on social media, live stream on the AFRIMA website, the AFRIMA App and by tuning to over 84 television stations which are AFRIMA partners.