Quality of African music was once again on the front burner when the International Committee of the All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA) unveiled its jury to the media recently in Lagos.
Cross-section of AFRIMA jury
Two of the members of the jury, Oscar Kidjo (Benin Republic) and Rita Ray (Diaspora-UK) spoke on the subject while responding to the question of the quality of the entries received in the maiden competition.
“Africa has a great potential and no music is bad. We had a tough time pruning the 2,025 entries because there is talent. The main problem is the quality of the products because most of the artistes produce themselves,” Kidjo said.
He added that when you produce yourself in music you don’t have all the resources, the team that will back you up so that your product is excellent.
“Out of the 2,000 plus entries about 60 percent are of good quality,” Kidjo emphasised, while saying that it was important for musicians on the continent to have the support they need so that they can be excellent.
Ray agreed with him completely and added that to get over 2000 entries in a maiden award is a feat.
“What I found was that in everything, music all over the world, there will be mediocrity, there will be run of the mill and there will be people who copy. But as we were looking at the different regions, the different genres we could stop to pick out little trends, people trying new things, trying to break out to the mainstream and I found that really heartening,” she said.
The 13-person jury is part of the AFRIMA Academy comprising of 527 members grouped into two layers of adjudicators spread across the five regions of Africa and Diaspora.
The highly experienced and professional jury members are from the following countries: Kenya, Benin Republic, Uganda, Egypt, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Guinea Bissau, Cameroon, UK and USA are Tabu Osusa, Oscar Kidjo, Richard Kawesa, Christian Syren, Delani Makhalima, Laolu Akins Akintobi, Robert Ekukole, Kiki Toure, Rab Bakari Rita Ray and Angela Martins representing African Union.
Also present at the event were members of the International Committee which include the Executive Producer of AFRIMA, Mike Dada; Co-executive Producer and Regional Director, Eastern Africa, Mike Strano, Director, Communications and Brand Sponsorship, Matlou Tsotetsi; Chairman International Media Committee, Steve Ayorinde and Country Director (Nigeria) and Co-Producer Kingsley James.
Speaking at the event, the executive producer, Mike Dada reiterated the core values of the All Africa Music Award, which are: fairness, authenticity, creativity, excellence, integrity and transparency.
“In line with our integrity and transparency values, we are trying to ensure that the adjudication process, pre-selection process, the auditing phase, the nomination process and the eventual voting process are all transparent,” he said.