5th Afrima Nominees – Full List

2018 AFRIMA – FULL LIST OF NOMINEES RELEASED

…South Africa’s Shekhinah, DRC’s Maître Gims, emerge

most nominated artistes for 5th AFRIMA

…as Tanzania’s Diamond Platnumz, Ethiopia’s

Betty G, Nigeria’s Simi and South Africa’s Nasty C join the AFRIMA Nominees top
contenders

…Public voting to commence Saturday, September 1

Democratic Republic of Congo-born international recording artiste and rapper, Maître Gims and

South Africa’s fast rising songstress and songwriter, Shekhinah, have received
seven nominations each to emerge highest nominated artistes for the 5th edition
of the All Africa Music Awards, AFRIMA.

This was made known when the African Union Commission, AUC, and the International

Jury of the All Africa Music Awards, AFRIMA released the highly anticipated
full list of the Regional and Continental Categories of the annual awards
ceremony to the public on Tuesday, August 28, 2018 via the media and on the
AFRIMA website, www.afrima.org

Closely following the top contenders are Tanzania’s Diamond Platnumz and Ethiopia’s

Betty G who each earned six nominations; while Simi (Nigeria) and Nasty C
(South Africa) got on the 5th AFRIMA nominees list with five nominations
apiece.

In its position as the biggest awards event on the continent, AFRIMA rewards the

continent’s music professionals in 36 Regional and Continental categories
including four new awards categories namely African DJ of the Year; Best African Dance/Choreography; African
Lyricist/Rapper of the Year and Best African Act in Diaspora, introduced in
June 2018 by the African Union and the International Committee of AFRIMA
to give room for expansion and inclusiveness in the African music industry.

The Regional Category, which consists of Best Female artistes and Best Male

artistes in the five regions of Africa, features 79 nominees while the
Continental Category which honours exceptional work in different African music
genres, boasts of 260 nominees with both categories making up a total number of
339 music professionals and songs nominated for the 2018 edition of the
continental awards.

This year, through the 8,009 entries submitted by African music professionals across the globe and

the painstaking work of the International Jury of AFRIMA embodied by 13
renowned African music and culture professionals assessing the submitted
entries, the 5th AFRIMA Nominees List has remained true to the AFRIMA tradition
of discovering authentically fresh African voices and music while also
recognising the hard work and diligence of consistent chart topping music
makers.

Commenting on the final nominees list for the 5th AFRIMA and how the jury arrived at finding the
best musical works within the year under review, AFRIMA Juror representing
Eastern Africa, Mr. Tabu Osusa, said, “This year, AFRIMA registered a
record number of entries in its competition. We were very pleased to
notice that mostly new talents have entered the competition. The 13 jurors
had a hard task going through over 8000 talented and creative entries. It
resulted in heated sessions and far from unanimous decisions. Being an odd
number of jurors revealed to be a blessing allowing us to make decisions by the
majority. After a lot of sweat, long discussions and late hours, the jurors
designated the best artistes in each given genre. It is now up to the public to
go through this process and help to find the new African talents!”

We are convinced that these new artists with unique capabilities are stamping their
mark in the various genres. They are and will definitely continue giving the
established musicians a run for their money”, the veteran music producer
from Kenya concluded.

Leading the nomination pack, Maître Gims’ has received nods for Album of the

Year (for his March 2018 released ‘Ceinture
Noire’ album); Artiste of the Year, Best Artiste in African Pop, Song of
the Year, Song Writer of the Year, Best African Collaboration and Best Male
Artiste in Central Africa.

Similarly, Shekhinah’s seven nominations also gave her a slot each in the Album of the
Year category and Producer of the Year (for her October 2017 released ‘Rose Gold’ album); these are as well as
Song Writer of the Year; Best African Dance/Choreography; Best Artiste in
African RnB & Soul; Revelation of the African Continent; Producer of the
Year; and Best Female Artiste in Southern Africa.

Diamond Platinumz gets an Album of the Year nomination for his 2017 compilation titled ‘A boy from Tandale’, in addition are
his nominations for Artiste of the Year; Best Artiste in African Contemporary;
Best Artiste in African Reggae, Ragga & Dancehall; Song Writer of the Year
and Best Male Artiste in Eastern Africa.

Betty G, Ethiopia’s jazz artiste, is amongst the top nominees with six nominations
including, Album of the Year (for
Wegegta, June 2018); Artiste of the Year; Best Artiste in African Jazz;
Best Artiste in African Rock; Revelation of the African Continent and Best
Female Artiste in Eastern Africa.

Nigeria’s Simi has earned five nominations namely: Album of the Year (For
Simisola’ released in September 2018), Artiste of the Year, Song Writer of
the Year, Best Artiste in African Pop, and Best Female Artiste in Western
Africa.

South Africa’s rap artiste Nasty C received five nominations from the categories of
Artiste of the Year, Song of the Year, Best African Collaboration for his song
featuring the Nigerian artiste, Runtown, Best Male Artiste in Southern Africa,
and the Best African Lyricist/Rapper of the Year.

Many of the continent’s music chart toppers who are also previous AFRIMA winners and
nominees such as Davido (Nigeria); Fally Ipupa (DRC); Tiwa Savage (Nigeria); Cassper Nyovest (South Africa); Wizkid/Starboy
(Nigeria); Daphne (Cameroon); Saad Lamjarred (Morocco); Sauti Sol (Kenya); DJ Arafat (Cote d’Ivoire); Charlotte
Dipanda (Cameroon); Angelique Kidjo (Benin); DJ Maphorisa (South Africa) and more, have received nominations for the 5th
AFRIMA. They are joined by AFRIMA nomination debutantes and fresh music faces
such as Kuami Eugene (Ghana); Aya Nakamura (Mali); Shane Eagle (South Africa);
Betty G (Ethiopia); Rash (Kenya); Afrotronix (Chad); L’Algérino (Algeria); DJ Enimoney (Nigeria); Nadia Nakai
(South Africa); Teni (Nigeria) and others.

Public voting will commence on the AFRIMA website on Saturday

In its fifth year, AFRIMA, is scheduled to hold in late November 2018, other activities
scheduled for the main awards events include the Africa Music Business Summit,
a combination of musical conference and trade expo where stakeholders in the
creative and arts industry come together to discuss the business of music in
Africa. There is also the AFRIMA Music Village, a music concert and cultural
festival which accommodates over 40,000 music lovers across the continent who will
witness live performances from their favourite African artistes.

5^th AFRIMA NOMINEES LIST FOR CONTINENTAL CATEGORIES

ALBUM OF THE YEAR

ARTISTE OF THE YEAR

BEST AFRICAN VIDEO

BEST AFRICAN ACT IN DIASPORA

BEST AFRICAN COLLABORATION

BEST AFRICAN DJ

BEST AFRICAN DUO, GROUP OR BAND

BEST AFRICAN RAPPER OR LYRICIST

BEST FEMALE ARTISTE IN AFRICAN INSPIRATIONAL MUSIC

BEST MALE ARTISTE IN AFRICAN INSPIRATIONAL MUSIC

MOST PROMISING ARTISTE IN AFRICA

PRODUCER OF THE YEAR

REVELATION OF THE AFRICAN CONTINENT

SONG OF THE YEAR

SONG WRITER OF THE YEAR

AFRICAN FANS’ FAVOURITE

5^th AFRIMA NOMINEES LIST FOR REGIONAL CATEGORIES

PICTURE CAPTION
Pic 1- AFRIMA Juror representing Eastern Africa, Mr. Tabu Osusa
Pic 2- South Africa’s Shekhinah
Pic 3- DRC’s Maître Gims
Pic 4- Tanzania’s Diamond Platnumz
Pic 5- Nigeria’s Davido
Pic 6- Nigeria’s Simi
Pic 7- Morocco’s Saad Lamjarred
Pic 8- Ethiopia’s Betty G
Pic 9- Nigeria’s Wizkid
Pic 10- Ghana’s Kuami Eugene