AFRIMA 2018: Organisers unveil nomination list

By Mutiat Alli

….as Davido, Tiwa Savage, Olamide, Wizkid top West Africa nomination list

After several days of rigorous evaluation of the 2018 entries of the All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA); organisers alongside jury members have revealed that out of the over 8,000 entries recorded this year, a fest no other award platforms have recorded, a total of 79 songs made it to the regional nominees list.

Top Nigerian acts with the likes of Davido, Olamide, Wizkid, Simi and Tiwa Savage amongst others, have been nominated for the All African Music Awards.

Public voting is expected to commence from August 27 ahead of the event, which holds in November.

However, organisers also announced the nominees comprising top acts across the continent at the event. The list covers five regional categories for both male and female.

Cameroon takes up four of the eight spots in the category for Best Female Artiste in Central Africa, followed by DRC (2), and Angola (2). In the category for Best Male Artiste in Central Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) takes the lead with five spots followed by Cameroon (2) and Chad (1). From Eastern Africa, the female category Kenya holds three spots while Uganda takes two with Ethiopia, Rwanda and Tanzania occupying one spot respectively. In the male category, Kenya and Tanzania maintain three nominations each, with Ethiopia and Uganda registering one nomination apiece amongst others.

At the press briefing, AFRIMA president, Mike Dada, said the awards existed to celebrate African music and to portray the continent as having other things besides poverty and violence.

He noted, “We are using AFRIMA to communicate ourselves to the rest of the world unapologetically. AFRIMA awards as a body also aims to reward our established superstars”.