AFRIMA Unveils Jury Members In Lagos

Funsho Arogundade

The International Committee of the All Africa Music Awards, AFRIMA, on 5 August unveiled members of the awards jury to the media during an interactive event held at Ibis Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria.

The 13-person jury was in Lagos for a week-long adjudication process. The highly experienced jury members in persons of Tabu Osusa, Oscar Kidjo, Richard Kawesa, Christian Syren, Delani Makhalima, Laolu Akins Akintobi, Robert Ekukole, Kiki Toure, Rab Bakari and Rita Ray are from Kenya, Benin Republic, Uganda, Egypt, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Nigeria. Others are from Guinea Bissau, Cameroon, UK and USA with Angela Martins representing the African Union.

Also at the event were members of the International Committee which include Mike Dada, executive producer, AFRIMA; Mike Strano, co-executive producer and regional director, Eastern Africa; Matlou Tsotetsi, Director, Communications and Brand Sponsorship; Steve Ayorinde, Chairman, International Media Committee, and Kingsley James, Country Director (Nigeria) and Co-Producer. They are all part of the AFRIMA Academy comprising of 527 members grouped into two layers of adjudicators spread across the five regions of Africa and Diaspora

Dada reiterated the core values of the awards which are fairness, authenticity, creativity, excellence, integrity and transparency.

“We don’t want to repeat the mistakes of the past. We’ve seen many awards where the people and followers of music in Africa have questioned the integrity and transparency of these awards. As such, we deliberated and did a lot of research and finally had a model which is the 13-person jury panel and 527 members of the Academy.”

Rita added that AFRIMA is a totally new award and to get over 2000 entries is quite a feat.

For Makhalima, AFRIMA goes beyond a musical award. He believes that it is a platform to unite Africans through music.

AFRIMA is a combined effort by music professionals across the continent aimed at celebrating the rich musical heritage of the African continent and encouraging the growth of talented artistes in the Diaspora.

The award ceremony will take place on November 9. It will be broadcast to 84 countries on 109 television stations.