By Ayodele Johnson

Eventually, the waiting on the Grammys sideline had to end for most Afrobeats musicians of top quality. Why that is, is because a new award category has been created to cover their output. It is called the Best African Music Performance and it was added alongside two others – the Best Alternative Jazz Album and Best Pop Dance Recording.

By the evening time at the Crypto.com Arena on 4 February 2024, it would be the 66th annual Grammy Awards. The music world would already know the artists that are worthy the most to wear the medal of honour in the newly formed categories. In the best African music performance cadre which has so far received 122 entries, Nigerian musicians would be thinking they would make it their home against a melodic Amapiano clapback.

The buildup to this has started. On Wednesday, 11 October specifically. The Recording Academy voters who are mainly music creators, including artists, producers, songwriters, and engineers have begun sieving through a list of submissions; in the end, they will be giving their remarks which determine the progress of any work beyond the first round voting ending 20 October.

Any submission that makes it through to 4 February when a winner of a category will be announced has to have passed through the final voting round which begins in 25 days. Billboard journalist Kyle Denis has envisioned a selection of artists to make it way up the best African music performance scale.

Denis pictures these best African music performance nominees: “2:30” by Asake; “Sittin’ on Top of the World,” Burna Boy; “Charm,” Rema; “People,” Libianca; “Unavailable,” Davido & Musa Keys; “Soweto,” Victony; “Party No Dey Stop,” Adekunle Gold & Zinoleesky; “Reason,” Omah Lay; “Mnike,” Tyler ICU, Tumelo.za, DJ Maphorisa, Nandipha808, Ceeka RSA & Tyron Dee; and “Amapiano,” Asake & Olamide.

ALSO READ: Burna Boy among top nominees for the 2023 BET Hip Hop Awards

All the songs and the artists listed are extremely doing well, so a case can be made to fit in the whole selection, but that is not always going to happen. What should be celebrated as making progress is the initiative by the Recording Academy to ensure a global representation of music right there at the Grammys. This was down to the steps taken by the stakeholders, most importantly the Board of Trustees giving a listen to calls asking for the coverage to be expanded.

Now that this has happened, it is next to Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. explaining why.

“The Recording Academy is proud to announce these latest Category changes to our Awards process. These changes reflect our commitment to actively listen and respond to the feedback from our music community, accurately represent a diverse range of relevant musical genres, and stay aligned with the ever-evolving musical landscape.”

Most predictions concerning a Best African Music Performance winner favour a Nigerian winner which could be most likely the singer Burna Boy. It is for the simple fact that he might be getting that sort of involvement.

A timely, well-put-together “I Told Them” album has been rated for cutting wide across the globe in terms of input. The cultivation was through the motherland with Seyi Vibez, then to North America, the UK and down to the Caribbean.