GRAMMY AWARDS: NOMINATIONS DATE ANNOUNCED

The Grammy Awards, also known as the Grammys, is an annual music awards ceremony that recognizes outstanding achievements in the music industry. The awards are presented by the Recording Academy, a professional organization of musicians, producers, engineers, and other music professionals. The origin  of the Grammy Awards dates back to 1957 when the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) was established. The first Grammy Awards ceremony took place on May 4, 1959, in Beverly Hills, California. The awards were originally created to honour artists in the fields of popular and classical music. Over the years, the Grammy Awards have expanded to include various genres and categories, such as rock, country, rap, R&B, and more. The awards recognize achievements in areas such as record of the year, album of the year, song of the year, best new artist, and many others.

The 2024 Grammy Awards, which is going to its 66^th edition, is set to be a historical one after the Academy announced the creation of three new categories which are the Best African Music Performance, Best Alternative Jazz Album, and Best Pop Dance Recording.

The Grammys Academy recently announced November 10th as the date the nominations for the 2024 awards would be revealed as members prepare to vote.

The 66th Grammys will also be the first time the award for the Best African Music Performance will be presented on stage. The Grammy’s Academy has also added Best Alternative Jazz Album, and Best Pop Dance Recording and they will all be introduced at the 2024 Grammy Awards.

According to a news report by chart news platform Chart Data, 122 songs were submitted for the Best African Music Performance category. A Billboard article released after the creation of the new African category indicated potential nominees like; Wizkid ft Ayra Starr – “2 Sugar”, Libianca- “People”, Adekunle Gold ft Zinoleesky “Party No Dey Stop”, Davido ft Musa Keys- “Unavailable”, and Asake ft Olamide- “Amapiano” among the front runners to be possibly nominated for the newly created African category.

With the creation of the new African category, fans would be hoping that more African artists will join Manu Dibango, Wes Madiko, Richard Bona, King Sunny Ade, Femi Kuti, and many others on the Grammy nominations list.

Ahead of the release of the nomination list on November 10th, the Academy has shared a video on the importance of members voting and how their decision can shape the future of the musical landscape.

The 2024 Grammy Awards is set to be held on Sunday, February 4, 2024.

Delia Nyadi