The Recording Academy of the Grammy Awards has created a new category for music from Africa.
This comes after news broke that the scheme was considering creating a category for Afrobeats (to represent music from Africa).
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Recording Academy, Harvey Manson Jnr. upon his visit to Ghana in 2022 reiterated move and mentioned how meticulous they were in getting the right representation for African music.
The Best African Music Performance category is one of the three new slots that have been added to the 2024 edition of the prestigious awards scheme. The other two are the Best Alternative Jazz Album and Best Pop Dance Recording.
Music genres that form part of this category include Ghanaian drill and highlife.
“Best African Music Performance’ category as “a track and singles category that recognizes recordings that utilize unique local expressions from across the African continent. Highlighting regional melodic, harmonic and rhythmic musical traditions, the Category includes but is not limited to the 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 genres,” the category definition states.
According to grammy.com, these category additions and amendments were voted on and passed at the Recording Academy’s most recent semiannual Board of Trustees meeting held in May 2023.
“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,” Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason jr. said.
“By introducing these three new categories, we are able to acknowledge and appreciate a broader array of artists – and relocating the Producer of the Year and Songwriter of the Year categories to the General Field ensures that all our voters can participate in recognizing excellence in these fields,” Mason continued. “We are excited to honor and celebrate the creators and recordings in these categories, while also exposing a wider range of music to fans worldwide,” he added.