Grammys To Honour African Artistes, Others With Three New Categories

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In a bid to represent a diverse range of relevant musical genres, the world’s number one music awards brand, the Grammys has announced that it will honour the works of African artistes to stay aligned with the ever-evolving musical landscape.

This was revealed through a statement on its official website as Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason said three new categories would be added to its 2024 edition, namely Best African Music Performance, Best Pop Dance Recording, and Best Alternative Jazz Album.

According to him, these additions were voted on and passed at the academy’s most recent semiannual Board of Trustees meeting held in May 2023.

Mason said, “The Recording Academy is proud to announce these latest Category changes to our Awards process. These changes reflect our commitment to actively listen and respond to the feedback from our music community, accurately represent a diverse range of relevant musical genres, and stay aligned with the ever-evolving musical landscape.”

The African category will include a track and singles that recognise recordings that utilise unique local expressions from across the African continent, highlighting regional melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic musical traditions.

The statement further revealed that this class would include but not be limited to “Afrobeat, Afro-fusion, Afro Pop, Afrobeats, Alte, Amapiano, Bongo Flava, Genge, Kizomba, Chimurenga, High Life, Fuji, Kwassa, Ndombolo, Mapouka, Ghanaian Drill, Afro-House, South African Hip-Hop, and Ethio Jazz”.

Meanwhile, the Best Alternative Jazz Album category will honour artistic excellence in Alternative Jazz albums by individuals, duos, and groups/ensembles, with or without vocals.

It will include blending, what it described as an “envelope-pushing hybrid that mixes jazz (improvisation, interaction, harmony, rhythm, arrangements, composition, and style) with other genres, including R&B, Hip-Hop, Classical, Contemporary Improvisation, Experimental, Pop, Rap, Electronic/Dance music, and/or Spoken Word and also the contemporary production techniques/instrumentation associated with other genres.”

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