Awards: 2018 AFRIMA Awards Full List of Nominees Unveal - NEST TV

…South Africa’s Shekhinah, DRC’s Maître Gims, emerge most nominated
artistes for 5th AFRIMA

…as Tanzania’s Diamond Platnumz, Ethiopia’s Betty G, Nigeria’s Simi and
South Africa’s Nasty C join the AFRIMA Nominees top contenders

 

… Public voting to commence Saturday, September 1

 

Democratic Republic of Congo-born international recording artiste and

rapper, Maître Gims and South Africa’s fast rising songstress and
songwriter, Shekhinah, have received seven nominations each to emerge
highest nominated artistes for the 5th edition of the All Africa Music
Awards, AFRIMA.

This was made known when the African Union Commission, AUC, and the
International Jury of the All Africa Music Awards, AFRIMA released the
highly anticipated full list of the Regional and Continental Categories of
the annual awards ceremony to the public on Tuesday, August 28, 2018 via
the media and on the AFRIMA website, www.afrima.org

Closely following the top contenders are Tanzania’s Diamond Platnumz and
Ethiopia’s Betty G who each earned six nominations; while Simi (Nigeria)
and Nasty C (South Africa) got on the 5th AFRIMA nominees list with five
nominations apiece.

In its position as the biggest awards event on the continent, AFRIMA
rewards the continent’s music professionals in 36 Regional and Continental
categories including four new awards categories namely African DJ of the
Year; Best African Dance/Choreography; African Lyricist/Rapper of the Year
and Best African Act in Diaspora, introduced in June 2018 by the African
Union and the International Committee of AFRIMA to give room for expansion
and inclusiveness in the African music industry.

The Regional Category, which consists of Best Female artistes and Best
Male artistes in the five regions of Africa, features 79 nominees while
the Continental Category which honours exceptional work in different
African music genres, boasts of 260 nominees with both categories making
up a total number of 339 music professionals and songs nominated for the
2018 edition of the continental awards.

This year, through the 8,009 entries submitted by African music
professionals across the globe and the painstaking work of the
International Jury of AFRIMA embodied by 13 renowned African music and
culture professionals assessing the submitted entries, the 5th AFRIMA
Nominees List has remained true to the AFRIMA tradition of discovering
authentically fresh African voices and music while also recognising the
hard work and diligence of consistent chart topping music makers.

Commenting on the final nominees list for the 5th AFRIMA and how the jury
arrived at finding the best musical works within the year under review,
AFRIMA Juror representing Eastern Africa, Mr. Tabu Osusa, said, “This
year, AFRIMA registered a record number of entries in its competition. We
were very pleased to notice that mostly new talents have entered the
competition. The 13 jurors had a hard task going through over 8000
talented and creative entries. It resulted in heated sessions and far from
unanimous decisions. Being an odd number of jurors revealed to be a
blessing allowing us to make decisions by the majority. After a lot of
sweat, long discussions and late hours, the jurors designated the best
artistes in each given genre. It is now up to the public to go through
this process and help to find the new African talents!”
We are convinced that these new artists with unique capabilities are
stamping their mark in the various genres. They are and will definitely
continue giving the established musicians a run for their money”, the
veteran music producer from Kenya concluded.

Leading the nomination pack, Maître Gims’ has received nods for Album of
the Year (for his March 2018 released ‘Ceinture Noire’ album); Artiste of
the Year, Best Artiste in African Pop, Song of the Year, Song Writer of
the Year, Best African Collaboration and Best Male Artiste in Central
Africa.

Similarly, Shekhinah’s seven nominations also gave her a slot each in the
Album of the Year category and Producer of the Year (for her October 2017
released ‘Rose Gold’ album); these are as well as Song Writer of the Year;
Best African Dance/Choreography; Best Artiste in African RnB & Soul;
Revelation of the African Continent; Producer of the Year; and Best Female
Artiste in Southern Africa.

Diamond Platinumz gets an Album of the Year nomination for his 2017
compilation titled ‘A boy from Tandale’, in addition are his nominations
for Artiste of the Year; Best Artiste in African Contemporary; Best
Artiste in African Reggae, Ragga & Dancehall; Song Writer of the Year and
Best Male Artiste in Eastern Africa.

Betty G, Ethiopia’s jazz artiste, is amongst the top nominees with six
nominations including, Album of the Year (for Wegegta, June 2018); Artiste
of the Year; Best Artiste in African Jazz; Best Artiste in African Rock;
Revelation of the African Continent and Best Female Artiste in Eastern
Africa.

Nigeria’s Simi has earned five nominations namely: Album of the Year (For
Simisola’ released in September 2018), Artiste of the Year, Song Writer of
the Year, Best Artiste in African Pop, and Best Female Artiste in Western
Africa.

South Africa’s rap artiste Nasty C received five nominations from the
categories of Artiste of the Year, Song of the Year, Best African
Collaboration for his song featuring the Nigerian artiste, Runtown, Best
Male Artiste in Southern Africa, and the Best African Lyricist/Rapper of
the Year, Many of the continent’s music chart toppers who are also
previous AFRIMA winners and nominees such as Davido (Nigeria); Fally Ipupa
(DRC); Tiwa Savage (Nigeria); Cassper Nyovest (South Africa);
Wizkid/Starboy (Nigeria); Daphne (Cameroon); Saad Lamjarred (Morocco);
Sauti Sol (Kenya); DJ Arafat (Cote d’Ivoire); Charlotte Dipanda
(Cameroon); Angelique Kidjo (Benin); DJ Maphorisa (South Africa) and more,
have received nominations for the 5th AFRIMA. They are joined by AFRIMA
nomination debutantes and fresh music faces such as Kuami Eugene (Ghana);
Aya Nakamura (Mali); Shane Eagle (South Africa); Betty G (Ethiopia); Rash
(Kenya); Afrotronix (Chad); L’Algérino (Algeria); DJ Enimoney (Nigeria);
Nadia Nakai (South Africa); Teni (Nigeria) and others.

Public voting will commence on the AFRIMA website on Saturday, September
1, where both continental and regional nominees in the 36 AFRIMA awarding
categories will compete against one another for the coveted 23.9 carat
gold-plated AFRIMA Trophy. Nominees will depend on their fans and
followers spread across the globe to vote for them in an open voting
process via the AFRIMA website, www.afrima.org

In its fifth year, AFRIMA, is scheduled to hold in late November 2018,
other activities scheduled for the main awards events include the Africa
Music Business Summit, a combination of musical conference and trade expo
where stakeholders in the creative and arts industry come together to
discuss the business of music in Africa. There is also the AFRIMA Music
Village, a music concert and cultural festival which accommodates over
40,000 music lovers across the continent who will witness live
performances from their favourite African artistes.

   This news is supported by NEST TV and First Nest Consult