Grammy award for Kenyan musicians

Musicians from Kenya have until 30 August to submit their nominations for next year’s 67th Grammy Awards, known as “The Grammys”.

Kenyan rapper Octopizzo and Bongo flava singer Diamond Platnumz were the most notable East African artists to compete in the “Best African Musical Performance” category last year. Both duo made it through the first round of voting at the Recording Academy. They failed, however, to make it through to the second round of nominations.

After the Academy Awards, the Grammys are the second most popular awards after the Oscars, which reward actors. And in contrast to the Oscars, their popularity continues to grow.

For its 66th awards ceremony, held last February, the annual event presented by the Recording Academy included 94 categories, of which three new ones were introduced.

Among the new categories is Best African Musical Performance, in which all African musicians can compete.

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Kenyan and African musicians must submit a track and singles that use unique local expressions from across African content. In this way, the melodic, harmonic and rhythmic musical traditions of the continent are highlighted. According to the Grammys, the category is not limited to afro-beat, afro-fusion, afro-pop, alte, amapiano, bongo flava, genge, kizomba, chimurenga, fuji, mapouka, Ghanaian dril, ethio-jazz, South African hip-hop or kwasa.

Oktopizzo has been ongoing with its submissions since 2018, when it submitted its first tracks. He has not been nominated for the 60th edition of the Grammys, but has received an official invitation to the awards ceremony in the United States.

Tyla, the South African singer and songwriter, won the inaugural Best African Music category thanks to the success of her single “Water”, which became the first African song to enter the Billboard charts. She was ahead of Afrobeat stars Burna Boy, Asake and Olamide, who were all nominated in this category.