The Grammys Are Considering An Afrobeats Category
The Recording Academy’s CEO recently mentioned talk of adding an Afrobeats category to its line-up of awards.
In a recent trip to Ghana, Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. told Ghanaian journalists that the Recording Academy was in talks with the key players in the Afrobeats music scene to explore the possibility of adding Afrobeats to the award’s genre list. During the conversation, he mentioned that the Academy was working with “leaders of the Afrobeats community” to promote inclusivity at the Grammys.
“We just had a meeting literarily about six to seven days ago, with leaders of the Afrobeats community… We had listening session where we heard from Afrobeats creators, we talked about the different subgenres what are the needs, what are the desires, and my goal is to represent all genres of music including Afrobeats at the Grammys,” said Mason.
Although Mason said that the process was ongoing, the right strategy would have to be taken to ensure that things go off without a hitch.
“I don’t decide categories. The categories are decided by proposals by members. Members can say ‘Harvey, I want an Afrobeat category,’ they write a proposal for the category they talked about. So that process is started now. We did a listening session last week for the step towards that path,” said Mason.
SOURCE: OKAYAFRICA
