Grammy Awards add three new categories, including Best African Music Performance

African music is gradually getting more recognition at the global helm of affairs.

The Recording Academy has added three new categories to the Grammy Awards, including “Best African Music Performance,” ahead of the next award ceremony in 2024.

The Recording Academy, which is in charge of the Grammy Award, has added three new categories to the prestigious annual award ceremony that celebrate musical excellence across the globe.

In the update of events, the Grammys will now have three new categories: best African music performance, best pop dance recording, and best alternative jazz album.

According to reports, the added categories were voted on and passed at the academy’s Board of Trustees meeting in May 2024, making the Grammys possess a total of 94 categories in the inaugural edition of their 66th edition, which will air in 2024.

No doubt, the success of African stars like Burna Boy, Wizkid, Davido, Tems, CKay, Rema, Black Sherif, Yemi Alade, and a host of others has contributed to the new African category, which is expected to be highly competitive.

The category is interesting because it isn’t just limited to the popular Afrobeats genre but cuts across highly rooted genres like Fuji, High Life, Kizomba, and many more.

According to the recording academy, a breakdown of the three new categories is as follows:

Best African Music Performance

A track and singles Category that recognizes recordings that utilize unique local expressions from across the African continent. Highlighting regional melodic, harmonic and rhythmic musical traditions, the Category includes but is not limited to the Afrobeat, Afro-fusion, Afro Pop, Afrobeats, Alte, Amapiano, Bongo Flava, Genge, Kizomba, Chimurenga, High Life, Fuji, Kwassa, Ndombolo, Mapouka, Ghanaian Drill, Afro-House, South African Hip-Hop, and Ethio Jazz genres.

Best Pop Dance Recording

Recognizes tracks and singles that feature up-tempo, danceable music that follows a pop arrangement. Eligible Pop Dance recordings also feature strong rhythmic beats and significant electronic-based instruments with an emphasis on the vocal performance, melody and hooks. Dance remixes are eligible in the Best Remixed Recording Category only and may not be entered in Best Pop Dance Recording

Best Alternative Jazz Album

This Category recognizes artistic excellence in Alternative Jazz albums by individuals, duos and groups/ensembles, with or without vocals. Alternative Jazz may be defined as a genre-blending, envelope-pushing hybrid that mixes jazz (improvisation, interaction, harmony, rhythm, arrangements, composition, and style) with other genres, including R&B, Hip-Hop, Classical, Contemporary Improvisation, Experimental, Pop, Rap, Electronic/Dance music, and/or Spoken Word. It may also include the contemporary production techniques/instrumentation associated with other genres.