AFRIMA: Simi redeems Nigeria’s low ranking award nomination

Nigeria’s songstress, Simisola Ogunleye, professionally known as Simi,  is the most nominated Nigerian artiste in the recently released All African Music Awards (AFRIMA) nomination list.

The Jamb Question singer got  a total number of five nominations in the highly-anticipated regional and continental categories nominee list released on Tuesday on AFRIMA website.

Democratic Republic of Congo-born international recording artiste and rapper, Maître Gims and South Africa’s fast rising songstress and songwriter, Shekhinah, dominated the full list of nominees with seven nominations apiece, while Tanzania’s hitmaker, Diamond Platnumz, and Ethiopia’s Betty G earned six nominations each.

Nigeria,  which had crowded the award event since inception because of its vibrant music industry,  had a poor showing on the 5th AFRIMA’s full list of nominees table.

Addressing this issue of entry collection and collation for this edition, the statement disclosed that about 8,009 entries were submitted by African music professionals across the globe and assessed by the International Jury embodied by 13 renowned African music and culture professionals.

“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,” the statement read.

Also, 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.

• Buhari leaves for China Friday

“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!”

The Regional Category 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.

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.

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.

The host of this edition may go to Accra, Ghana as a source disclosed that Ghana stands the greatest chance to host this year’s edition. Lagos has hosted the four previous editions with th last one having Wizkid and Tiwa Savage emerging as the Best Male Artiste and Female Artiste in Africa respectively.

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.