AFRIMA 2018
The All Africa Music Awards is 5 years old and for the first time, the annual event was hosted in Accra, Ghana. From November 21st to
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November 24th, tourism was the focus and Accra was littered with more diverse faces of Africa than usual, which reinforced the Pan-Africanism
that the show hinges on. It was sheer delight throughout the 4-day fest as the underlying idea since the conception of this event has been to showcase Pan-Africanism through music and culture. The segmented continent of Africa has dynamic musical influences, melodies and structures that need to be appreciated. There is no better way than this to get these myriad musical personalities into one space to celebrate and feed off one another. Amidst the flurry of entertaining activities and thrilling musical performances on the awards night and in the clubs, major stakeholders in the music industries of Africa also parleyed on how to fully realize the potential African music has from
an economic perspective. Credence was given to the depthless well of musical and artistic talent spread across the continent but the absence of an efficient structure to aid in the monetizing and promotion of musical craft/talent proves to be the continent’s Achilles heel. On the awards front, Nigerian heavyweight Davido bagged the most coveted accolade of the night as he was adjudged the African Artist of the year. The night was equally memorable for Teddy Osei of Osibisa fame and Yvonne Chaka Chaka who were celebrated for their legendary status on the continent, as well as Afrotonix, Betty G, GuiltyBeatz, Fally Ipupa, 2Baba a host of other hardworking artists who we awarded for their stellar years in music.
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