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Friday 23 August 2019
BUSINESS DAY
ENTERTAINMENT
AFRIMA set to spotlight African music industry ...nominees’ list showcases wide range of creativity, talent
OBINNA EMELIKE
O
nce again, the scramble for the coveted 23.9 carats gold-plated AFRIMA trophy is on and ensuing healthy rivalry among musicians across all genres in Africa. Established in 2014, the All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA) is designed to promote the distinct rich African music worldwide, engaging millions of fans by propelling African music to glorious pinnacles beyond the borders of Africa. It is also a combined effort to recognise, award, promote and preserve Africa’s rich music culture. The awards, which has become the biggest music event in Africa has been hosted in partnership with the African Union (AU). This year’s edition is expected to be bigger than previous events. Already, the AU and the International Committee of AFRIMA are impressed with the nominees list for the regional category of 6th edition of the awards, which they unveiled at a world media conference on August 14, 2019 in Lagos, Nigeria. They noted that this year’s list showcased a wide range of creativity and talents both from new and known artiste across the regions. The 2019 Nominees’ list for Regional and Continental category emerged from the 8,157 songs/ videos received as entries from its online portal, which closed earlier on August 2, 2019. The regional category was for the Best Female Artistes and Best Male Artistes of the five regions (Western, Southern, Eastern, Northern, and Central Africa) and was thoroughly selected from the entries to reveal artiste who will be competing at the 2019 awards ceremony. Artistes like Shatta Wale, Kizz Daniel, Salif Keita, Burna Boy will be competing for the Best Male category in Western Africa, while
Teniola, Simi, Aya Nakamura, Mzvee, Yemi Alade amongothers will be competing for the Best Female category in Western Africa. Dominating Central Africa include Cameroonian artiste Blanche Baily, Charlotte Dipanda, Daphne alongside their male counterpart Locko, Magasco and Salatiel. For Eastern Africa fields great contenders including Sheebah from Uganda; Vanessa Mdee from Tanzania; Nikita Kering from Kenya with Tanzanian Diamond platinum, Rayvanny, Mboso, and Kenyan Khaligraph Jones and Nyashinski. Moroccan Yann’Sine, Ahmed Soultan, Amiinux, and Algerian Soolking with Cairokee from Egypt, Salma Rachid from Morocco will be battling it out in the Northern region for Best Male and Female category. The list has a huge representation for South African artiste as they hold sway over the Southern African region for both Male and
Female categories. The artistes include, AKA, Nasty C, Cassper Nyovest, Sjava, Black Coffee, Kelly Khumalo, Zonke, Nadia Nakai among others. Amara Brown, Tamy Moyo, Jah Prayzah, and Winky D also lock down few spots for Zimbabwe in the Southern regional category. Drawing from their pool of experience and professionalism, the 13-man AFRIMA international jury, guided by the AFRIMA acronym FACEIT, which stands for; fairness, authenticity, creativity, excellence, integrity, and transparency underwent a week-long process of thoroughly screening, categorizing, assessing, and grading from the thousands of entries in order to arrive at the best reflection of rich and creative talents in African music. The reviewed songs were produced from August 1, 2018, to August 2, 2019. Speaking on behalf of the AFRIMA jury, Chris Syren, representing Southern Africa, gave a report on
their activities including the tireless and assiduous process they had to embark upon during adjudication, the quality of works received, criteria for selection, and the voting process. He commended AFRIMA for its sense of inclusiveness and unity at leading the conversation of using music as a tool for integration and shared prosperity in Africa. As well, Angela Martins, head of culture, Africa Union, via a video conference, expressed her excitement of this year’s AFRIMA, its capacity to promote the African culture positively while calling for more support for the continental initiative. The AFRIMA online voting platform is set to open to the public on Sunday, September 1 and will run till November 22, where both continental and regional nominees in the 36 AFRIMA awarding categories will compete for the coveted 23.9 carats gold-plated AFRIMA trophy. Nominees will depend on their fans and followers spread across
the globe to vote for them in an open voting process via the AFRIMA website, www.afrima.org The 2019 AFRIMA ceremony is scheduled to hold from November 20-23, 2019 during a four-day fiesta of music, glamour, Afrocentricism and entertainment in the official awards host city. The ceremony will commence with the welcome soiree followed by the AFRIMA music village, the host city tour, the Africa music business summit, the exclusive nominees’ party and concludes with the live awards ceremony. However, the remaining 25 continental categories will be released on August 23, 2019 after auditing by the International auditors of AFRIMA. Fans of African music globally can follow and take part in the AFRIMA 2019 events on social media, live stream on the AFRIMA website, the AFRIMA App and by tuning to over 84 television stations, which are AFRIMA partners.
U.S. Consulate inaugurates documentary film festival in Lagos OBINNA EMELIKE
I
n an expression of its commitment to strengthening the ties that link Nigeria and the United States of America, the U.S. Consulate Lagos has inaugurated a documentary film festival. The film festival, which was hosted with partnership with Ascends International Studios Limited and the Silverbird Group, opened at the Silverbird Galleria, Victoria Island, Lagos on Monday, August 19, 2019. It featured screenings of eight contemporary documentaries from the American Film Showcase from August 19 to 22, at Silverbird Galleria, as well as, panel discussions for filmmakers, industry professional, students and youth audiences. In his remarks at the inauguration, Russell Brooks, United States
Consulate Public Affairs Officer, who highlighted the universal power of storytelling and the potential of film to inspire social change, noted the Consulate is intimately involved with the creative community in Lagos. “We especially support that community’s efforts to use the power of film, music, dance, or literature to expose society’s ills or celebrate the brilliance and artistry that also form the human experience”, he said. Explaining further, Brooks said that the major highlight of the festival was the American Film Showcase, the premier film diplomacy program of the U.S. Department of State, which is produced in partnership with the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts. “The American Film Showcase brings award-winning contemporary American documentaries, www.businessday.ng
independent fiction films, and documentary know-how to audiences around the world, offering a view of American society and culture as seen by independent filmmakers”, he said. Apart from showcasing eight documentary films, and featuring eight panel sessions, the festival,
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on the second day, witnessed a virtual appearance by Mary Mazzio, the director of the film ‘I Am Jane Doe’. Her film is one of the most discussed documentaries of recent years due to its riveting subject matter-sex trafficking. For the audiences, each of the films sparked thought and dia@Businessdayng
logue, while inspiring some of them to explore the means of telling their own stories. For the period the festival lasted, the documentaries offered the enthusiastic audiences contemporary insights into the American society with loads of inspirational stories that span entrepreneurship, technology, food, music and dance, as well as, some disturbing aspects of the darker sides of human nature. Speaking on the stories, Brooks said, “Whether these stories are uplifting or distressing, these are important stories that must be told. We owe it to the heroes, to the victims, we owe it to ourselves”. While appreciating the partners for the successful inauguration, he hoped that the festival would become a consistent feature of the U.S. cultural engagement with Lagos State and the people of Nigeria.