Entertainment
Afrobeats gets a place on America Music Awards
The American Music Awards (AMAs) has introduced a category dedicated to recognising Afrobeats.
The new category is called ‘Favourite Afrobeats Artist’.
It is the first award in a major US award show dedicated to recognising African artistes that have transcended the African borders with the now globally recognised genre.
Fans of Afrobeats artistes can vote for their favourite stars who have been nominated. Unfortunately, for the category’s debut, no Ghanaian act was nominated.
The nominees for the 2022 AMA ‘Favourite Afrobeats Artist’ are; Burna Boy, CKay, Fireboy DML, Tems, and Wizkid.
Tems has another nomination in the ‘Collaboration of the Year’ category for her collab on Wait For U with Future and Drake.
Meanwhile, Afrobeats is not the only music genre to have a spot in the AMAs.
The K-Pop genre also landed a category. The category is named ‘Favourite K-Pop Artist’. Fans of K-Pop also now have the chance to vote for their favourite artiste or group.
The K-Pop artists nominated are Blackpink, BTS, Seventeen, Tomorrow X Together and Twice.
BTS is also nominated in the ‘Favourite Pop Duo or Group category.’
This comes weeks after calls for The Recording Academy, organisers of Grammy, to add Afribeats as a category to the awards scheme.
In September, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of The Recording Academy said there is a possibility the event will in the near future have a category for Afrobeats.
Speaking to the media on his arrival in Ghana, Harvey Mason Jr, noted that The Recording Academy recently had a meeting with leaders of the Afrobeats community including producers, songwriters, executives and others to learn more about the genre – and will continue to do so.
“We just talked about what are the different sub-genres (of Afrobeats), the needs, the desires, and my goal is to represent all genres of music including Afrobeats at the Grammys, but it has to be done properly,” Mr Mason said.
Meanwhile, in March 2022, Billboard created the U.S. Afrobeats Songs chart – a standard record chart ranking the 50 most popular Afrobeats songs in the United States weekly.
Source: www.myjoyonline.com
Entertainment
Sparqlyn reminisces as he congratulates Shatta Wale for winning two awards at 43rd IRAWMA
Ghanaian musician and former member of musicial gorup, Dunsin, Ahmmed Kanneh Larweh, popularly known as Sparqlyn, has congratulated Ghanaian music heavyweight, Shatta Wale following his impressive double victory at the International Reggae and World Music Awards.
Shatta Wale recently made headlines after winning two major awards at the prestigious event held in Florida, USA, securing Best African Dancehall Entertainer and Concert of the Year for ShattaFest.
Reacting to the achievement, Sparqlyn could not hide his excitement after sighting news of the awards on Monday, May 18, 2025.
According to him, the one thing that caught his attention was the plaque presented to Shatta Wale. He noted that the design looked strikingly similar to the one Dunsin received when they won at the MUSA Awards over a decade ago.
The resemblance, especially the upper part of the plaque, instantly brought back memories of his former group’s historic moment on the African stage 13 years ago when the group represented Ghana proudly in South Africa.
It will be recalled that back in 2013, Dunsin achieved international recognition after winning Most Exciting Group in Africa and Most African Video at the MUSA Awards held in Pretoria, South Africa. The awards came on the back of their global hit project “Ɔyɛadeɛyie,” a song that helped elevate the group’s profile beyond Ghana.
At the time, Sparqlyn, then known by many as Kele within the group, was the one who represented Dunsin at the event to pick up the award.
Ghanaian dancehall artiste Charles Nii Armah Mensah, known as Shatta Wale, has won two awards at the 43rd International Reggae and World Music Awards (IRAWMA) held in Florida over the weekend.
He picked up the Best African Dancehall Entertainer award as well as Concert of the Year for ShattaFest.
In a statement, Shatta Wale’s management expressed appreciation to the organisers and supporters of the awards.
“Management would like to sincerely appreciate the organisers of the IRAWMA awards for the recognition and continuous support for African music on the global stage.
“We also extend our deepest gratitude to fans across the world, especially the Shatta Movement fraternity, for their unwavering support, votes, and dedication throughout the years,” the statement said.
The statement added that the latest wins reaffirm the artiste’s position as one of Africa’s leading musical exports and a prominent figure in global dancehall culture.
The awards bring Shatta Wale’s total haul at the IRAWMA to 11, highlighting his continued presence on the international reggae and dancehall scene.
At last year’s edition, he won three awards: Best African Dancehall Entertainer, Best Music Video for “Killa Ji Mi”, and Best Crossover Song for “Commando” featuring Bounty Killer. -GNA
