Zim artist Shungudzo gets Grammy credit
Shungudzo Govere, a Zimbabwean artist popularly known as Shungudzo, was celebrated and acknowledged at The 2022 Grammy Awards for her work behind the scenes as a writer, producer and engineer on this year's Grammy Awards Best Global Music Album winner titled Mother Nature by Angelique Kidjo, a Beninese singer-songwriter, actress and activist who is noted for her diverse musical influences and creative music videos.
In her speech, Kidjo first highlighted the young African musicians who collaborated with her on Mother Nature — including Yemi Alade, Burna Boy, Mreazi, and Shungudzo — saying, “are going to take the world by storm”. After thanking the fans who listened “when we needed you”, she closed with a powerful statement: “We are all Africans.”
Shungudzo took to social media to comment on her achievement.
“Today, ya girl is a writer, producer, engineer and featured artist on Angelique Kidjo’s Grammy Award-winning album, Mother Nature! Awards are not the determiner of what is truly good — that’s a feeling we nourish inside regardless of what other people think — but damn does it feel nice to be recognised for speaking up, together, in a society that would prefer if we stay silent, alone," Shungudzosaid in a statement posted on Instagram.
This win is the Beninese singer’s fifth of her career
The US-based Shungudzo is a singer, songwriter, former gymnast and reality television personality. She first attracted media attention by being the first black female gymnast to represent Zimbabwe in artistic gymnastics at the 1999 All-Africa Games, and later by co-founding the Kijana Project, which provides relief for Aids orphans.
She later gained wide media attention as a cast member on the 2011 season of The Real World: San Diego.
The Grammy Award for Best Global Music Album is an honour presented to recording artists for influential music from around the globe at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. honorus in several categories are presented at the ceremony annually by the national Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to “honour artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without regard to album sales or chart position”. — Greedy South.