Grammy’s separate African Music Category doing more harm than good

Grammy’s side stage award will do more harm than good to Africa.

Ultimate fighting champion Dricus du Plessis, the Rugby World Cup-winning Springboks, Emmy-winning comedian Trevor Noah, as well as flautist Wouter Kellerman and Ladysmith Black Mambazo, among other South Africans, all won legitimate and worthy Grammy awards.

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Before you start penning a letter of rebuttal to the editor, ask yourself why the Recording Academy committee insists on pigeon-holing African music, as if we are not good enough to compete with the world’s best, on the same stage?

At your place of employment, school or wherever else you compete, would you be happy with an award created specifically for you, while your peers were parading their “real” accolades?

Tyla Laura Seethal is an amazing South African singer and songwriter who is making her way to the real top of music’s pinnacle: global domination.

Her sound – a sultry mash-up of Amapiano, contemporary R&B and pop – is doing well in various markets.

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The 22-year-old’s global viral hit Water, for which she won the inaugural Best African Music Performance award this week, reached number one in New Zealand and the top 10 in Australia, Denmark, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Ireland and Sweden.

In the US, Tyla became the youngest South African and the first South African soloist in 55 years to enter the Billboard Hot 100, following Hugh Masekela’s Grazing in the Grass in 1968.

She really is that talented. The other gripe I have with this award is that it is bound to ignore less popular and more niche musical offerings from our continent.

Most of us know about Afro-beats and the overplayed Amapiano styles, but what about Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle songs known as Chimurenga and Kenya’s Benga?

The Best African Music Performance award might seem like a wonderful way to pay homage to African musicians, but it also has the potential to be divisive.

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The nominees for the laurel hail from just three countries, Nigeria (Burna Boy, Davido and Asake & Olamide), South Africa (Tyla and Musa Keys) and Benin (Ayra Starr).

Surely the sounds of the continent are not summarised in three countries! Africa has more than 2 000 languages that are used and, unfortunately, few of these are represented by mainstream tracks that get the nod from the Grammy’s adjudicators.

This just perpetuates the idea that English is a superior tongue when compared to the likes of Berber, spoken by millions in North Africa.