Gyakie, Yaw Tog and Sarkodie
Some of Ghana’s best music exports have made it onto the nominations list of the 2021 edition All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA).
Among them are Gyakie, Sarkodie, Stonebwoy, Yaw Tog, Kidi and DJ Sly.
Gyakie leads the Ghanaians with three nominations in the categories: ‘Best Female Artiste in Western Africa’, ‘Best African Collaboration’ and ‘Best Artiste, Duo or Group in African R n B Soul’.
The country’s most decorated rapper Sarkodie got a nod in the Best African Rapper Or Lyricist category with his song Rollies & Cigars. He’s competing with South Africa’s Nasty C, Ko- C from Cameroon, Ladipoe from Nigeria, Elow’n from Cote d’Ivoire and others. The rest, Yaw Tog and DJ Sly were also nominated for Breakout Artiste of the Year & Best African DJ categories respectively.
The 2021 AFRIMA Award nominations were, released on Wednesday, September 22, 2021. It was from over 8,880 songs submitted for adjudication. It features over 400 songs from artistes in the 30 continental and 10 regional categories cutting across African talents and creatives living on the continent and in the Diaspora._
Leading the 2021 AFRIMA nominations scorecard is South Africa’s sensation duo, Blaq Diamond with eight nominations for their song, ‘SummerYoMuthi’ in ‘Best Male Artiste in Southern Africa’; ‘Artiste of the Year in Africa’; ‘Song of the Year in Africa’; ‘Producer of the Year in Africa’; ‘Best Male Artiste in African Inspirational Music’; ‘Breakout Artiste of the Year’; ‘Best Artiste, Duo or Group in African Pop’; and ‘Best African Duo, Group or Band’.
South Africa’s Focalistic made it to the top of the list for his hit single, ‘Ke Star’ [Remix], featuring Davido and Vigro Deep with seven nominations.
With his hit song, ‘Essence’ featuring Tems, Wizkid follows closely with six nominations including ‘Artiste of the Year in Africa’, ‘Best Male Artiste in Western Africa’ and ‘Album of the Year’. The Afrobeat singer’s other nominations are ‘Best African Collaboration’, ‘Song of the Year in Africa’, and ‘Best Artiste, Duo or Group in African R n B Soul’.
2021 AFRIMA in partnership with the African Union Commission (AUC) will be broadcast live on 84 television stations in 109 countries from Lagos, Nigeria from November 19-21, 2021. Public Voting for the award will commence globally on Monday September 27, 2021.
By Francis Addo