26th September, 2014
Funsho Arogundade
Nigeria music star, Davido and South Africa duo, Mafikizolo lead the nominees list of the All Africa Music Awards, AFRIMA 2014 announced early this week in Lagos.
As the six-week voting process stirs fever pitch excitement, Davido and Mafikizolo picked six nominations each. They were trailed by Uhuru (South Africa) with five nominations and Mi Casa (South Africa) with four nominations.
Leading the budding music acts on AFRIMA nominees’ list is Temi DollFace (Nigeria) also with four nominations.
Other multiple nominees include Diamond Platnumz (Tanzania) two nominations, Amr Diab (Egypt) two nominations, Zahara (South Africa) three nominations, Angelique Kidjo (Benin Republic) two nominations, Tiwa Savage (Nigeria) two nominations, Wiyaala (Ghana) three nominations; Patoranking (Nigeria) two nominations; and Noura Mint Seymale (Mauritania) with two nominations.
Fally Ipupa (DRC) and Sakordie (Ghana) bag one nomination each.
Nigeria’s top producer, Don Jazzy made the Africa Producer of the Year category for the song ‘Eminado’ alongside top contenders like Robbie Malinga & Mojela Thebe (South Africa) for ‘Impilo’; Oskido and Shizzi (Nigeria) for ‘Tchelete’; Mikky Me (Nigeria) Down and Del B (Nigeria) for ‘Pull Over’.
Giving details into the criteria used to pick the nominees, Matlou Tsotetsi, Chairman, International Media Committee, explained that the jury panel adhered strictly to the entry submission requirements while being guided by AFRIMA’s core values of FACE IT –Fairness, Authenticity, Creativity, Excellence, Integrity and Transparency.
While 30 of the 33 award categories will be open for voting by the public and AFRIMA Academy of Voters, Mike Dada, Executive Producer/President, AFRIMA, revealed that recipients of the AFRIMA Legend Award and the Africa Entertainment/Music Journalist Award will be decided by the International Committee of AFRIMA and announced at the main awards ceremony coming up on Sunday, 9 November in Lagos.
Dada added that the AFRIMA voting online platform will open on Tuesday, 30 September for the five-week voting process, while encouraging the public, fans and followers of African music to visit the AFRIMA website.