News that an afrobeats category is been considered by the prestigious Grammy Awards has drawn some reactions on social media.
CEO, Mr. Harvey Manson who is currently in Ghana said on a media tour that the Academy is considering introducing an afrobeats category to its prestigious award.
Speaking to the press at the Global Citizens concert in Ghana, Manson revealed that the academy has kicked off the first process in the long road to adding an Afrobeats category to the Grammys.
He noted that the academy had a meeting with Afrobeats creatives that includes artists, producers, songwriters, and executives where they talked about Afrobeats and its many Genres.
He further revealed that the members of the academy will have to submit a proposal for the addition of a new category before deliberations will kick off. However, the listening session with the Afrobeats leaders is the first step.
Should this become a reality, songs that fall under the Afrobeats subgenre will be eligible for nomination.
It will open a basket of opportunities to mainstream singers from Nigeria and Ghana who ordinarily won't have a shot at being nominated despite the quality of their songs.
This also means that South African genres such as House, Amapiano, and Kwaito might be considered Afrobeats. Similarly, Congolese sounds like the Soukous or the East African Singile might be termed Afrobeats.
It will be up to the Academy to adequately identify the essential elements that make a song Afrobeats as doing this will be the first step in truly awarding the right songs irrespective of where it's made, Pulse.ng said.
Burna Boy and Wizkid remain the only ones from Nigeria to pick up a Grammy Award.
Wow!! This is Lovely ????❤️
— ⚔️???? SAPA OF 30BG????⚔️ (@Dejuwon2) September 26, 2022
Kudos to Davido, Burna and Wiz, especially Davido for Paving the Way for Afrobeat followed by Wiz and Burna
This is caging African sounds to one category .. it's rubbish African sound's should be allowed to participate in main categories and not confined to a particular space or category
— king Jordan (@SamuelM57486305) September 26, 2022
There is latina Grammy of a song do so well it can win in both major categories and afrobeat category
— Dafe001 (@AkalusiEdafe) September 26, 2022
@OneMotolani you called this
— Mayowa (@Mayowa_Ot) September 26, 2022
Seems like we're getting the afrobeats category soon
The Recording Academy is now considering an Afrobeats category at the annual Grammys ceremony ????
