In February 2025, Nigerian Afrobeats will be certain this time to obtain a Grammy Award, with the country winning all five titles nominated in this category.
Burna Boy in June 2024 at the Glastonbury Festival. Photo :JOE MAHER / Getty Images via AFP
By Télérama, with AFP
Published on November 11, 2024 at 4:23 p.m.
L‘Nigerian Afrobeats is assured of its victory in the “Best African Musical Performance” category of the Grammy Awards, the ceremony of which will be held on February 2 in Los Angeles. Thus washing away the affront of the past edition where the prize went to the South African Tyla for Water, who won the award, beating his four Nigerian competitors, Asake, Burna Boy, Davido and Ayra Starr.
The five titles selected in this category this year all come from Nigeria, the most populous country on the African continent: Burna Boy, for Higher, Tems, pour Love Me HeHe, Asake & Wizkid, pour MMS, and Yemi Alade for Tomorrow were named, as well as the American Chris Brown accompanied by Davido and Lojay, two other heavyweights of the genre which has been thrilling Africa for ten years and now, the whole world.
Discover the rating and review
“Afrobeats” on France.tv Slash, to better understand this phenomenon that makes the whole world dance
Singer Tems, who in 2023 became the first Nigerian artist to win a Grammy Award for co-writing Lift Me Up, by Rihanna, for the film Black Panther : Wakanda Forever, is also selected in the “Best International Album” category, just like her compatriot Rema.
With more than 223 million hours of listening and 7.1 billion streams on Spotify in 2023, afrobeats is one of the hottest musical genres in the world, according to figures published on the platform’s website listening.
Born under the influence of Fela Kuti
The genre, which mixes traditional African rhythms and contemporary pop, finds its roots in Nigeria in the 1970s under the influence of artist Fela Kuti, founding father of afrobeat (without “s”).
Supported by the Nigerian diaspora, it is exported to the United Kingdom and the United States, allowing Nigerian artists to access international markets. A powerful tool of Nigerian cultural “soft power”, it rivals in popularity with South African amapiano, a musical genre which has also become very popular around the world.
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