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From Tosin Ajirire, Dakar
Africa’s best music talent shone like a million stars at the 8th edition of All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA), which held amidst pomp and razzmatazz at Dakar Arena, Dakar, Senegal last Sunday.
Tagged: ‘Teranga Edition’, the show was hosted by Senegalese-French actor and comedian, Ahmed Sylla; Cameroonian actress and broadcaster, Sophy Aiida and South African model and presenter, Pearl Thusi.
The 8th AFRIMA was a 4-day event that culminated at an award ceremony Sunday evening with performances from some of the continent’s music superstars including P-Square, Sidy Diop, Viviane N’dour and Black Sheriff among others.
Nigerian music star, Burna Boy won the awards for Best Album and Best African Act. While Wizkid dazzled with the Best West African Act award, Davido took home the Best Inspirational Song award for his hit, Stand Strong and Best African Pop award for High, a collaborative effort with Adekunle Gold.
For Tala, Ivorian rapper, singer and songwriter, Didi B went home with the award for Best Song of the Year. Confessing that it was his first award of the year, the artiste expressed gratitude to his colleagues and dedicated the honour to his mother and fans across the continent. “I dedicate the award to my mother and my fans,” he enthused.
Malian singer, Ibrahim Mahamadou Fily Sissoko popularly known as Iba One, clinched the award for Best Songwriter. Asake, the reigning king of Afrobeats for the year 2022, took home a well-deserved Breakout Artist of the Year award.
Having being hosted in Nigeria and Ghana in the past years, the ‘Teranga Edition’ was the first AFRIMA to be held in a French-speaking country. The award ceremony began on Thursday, January 12 with the host country tour, school visit, gifts presentation and welcome soiree in the evening.
The 4-day event continued on Friday, January 13 with Africa Music Business Summit held at Grand Theatre in Dakar. This was followed in the night by AFRIMA Music Village, where the biggest music stars across the continent including Tiwa Savage, performed live to a capacity audience also at Grand Theatre, Dakar.
On Saturday January 14, eve of the award ceremony, there were rehearsals, media engagements, and courtesy visit to the President of Senegal, Macky Sall. There was also a live recording session where musicians across the continent and the Diaspora explored opportunities for collaborative recordings.
The day’s activities came to a climax with an exclusive nominees’ party held at a nightclub in the heart of the city.
A total of 9,076 entries were received for nominations. This was the highest number of entries received since the inception of the awards in 2014. The figure, which was garnered from entertainers across all five African regions, as well as Europe and North America, represented a 2.2 percentage increase from the 8,880 entries recorded in the 2021 edition.
Interestingly, Eastern African region led the trail with 2,890 entries, representing 31.8 percent; while the West African region followed closely with 2,863 entries, representing 31.5 per cent; and Southern African region joined the race with 1,659 entries, representing 18.2 percent; while Central Africa came 4th with 941 entries, representing 10.3 percent; complementing the 373 entries from Northern African entertainers who represented 3.8 percent, as the remaining 349 entries from the Diaspora represented 4.1 percent of all total submissions.
In line with the AFRIMA 2022 calendar, a 13-member jury arrived Lagos on Thursday August 11 for an 8-day adjudication process. The jury comprised of seasoned experts across all five regions of the African music industry, as well as the Diaspora, most especially, North America and Europe.
The nominees’ announcement took place on Monday August 22, 2022. A week after, on Monday August 29, 2022, the AFRIMA Voters Academy, as well as music fans around the world began to participate in the public voting process, which was held on the AFRIMA website www.afrima.org. Nominees with the highest votes emerged winners in their respective categories and were honoured at the award ceremony held in Dakar, Senegal last Sunday.
Organised in partnership with the African Union, AFRIMA is a youth-focused music platform that recognizes and rewards the works and talents of African artistes across generations. It stimulates conversations among Africans, and also the rest of the world, especially on the potential of the creative arts for fostering real human enterprise, contributing significantly to social cohesion, as well as sustainable development in Africa.
Speaking on behalf of the African Union, Director for Social Development, Culture and Sports Health, Humanitarian Affairs and Social Development, Mrs. Cisse Mariama Mohamed said, “Africa remains resilient and progressive in everything, and this is why our entertainment sector continues to make such huge leaps globally. And at the forefront of this lies our resolve to unite the continent through entertainment. AFRIMA is committed to this mission, upholding this tradition of celebrating the scintillating musical culture of Africa by featuring exhilarating Pan African events throughout the year.”
Mike Dada, President/Executive Producer, AFRIMA, stressed: “This is such an exciting moment in African music and we are proud of the way these artistes have been able to cross over to several markets both on the home front and even globally.”
