The Recording Academy/Grammy are set to include Best African Music Performance and two new other categories ahead of the 2024 Grammy Awards, officially known as the 66th Grammy Awards.
Apart from the Best African Music Performance, the Recording Academy will also introduce the Best Alternative Jazz Album and Best Pop Dance Recording as new categories in the 66th Grammy Awards.
According to an article on the Recording Academy website, the Best African Music Performance involves “a track and singles that recognizes recordings that utilize unique local expressions from across the African continent. Highlighting regional melodic, harmonic and rhythmic music traditions”.
The article further revealed that “the category includes but is not limited to the Afrobeat, Afro-fusion, Afro Pop, 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.”
Additionally, the article explained that the category additions and amendments were voted on and passed at the Recording Academy’s most recent semi-annual Board of Trustees meeting held in May 2023. It adds that African Music, alternative jazz and dance-pop have been on the Grammy’s ballot for decades and they have now deservedly received categories of their own.
Speaking to a Grammy Awards correspondent, Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. explained that, the inclusion of the three new categories will allow them to “acknowledge and appreciate a broader array of artists and relocate the Producer Of the Year and Songwriter Of The Year categories to the General Field ensures that all our voters can participate in recognizing excellence in these fields”.
He further added that the recording academy hopes to expose these music genres to encourage global listenership.
“[The Grammys] are excited to honour and celebrate the creators and recordings in these categories, while also exposing a wider range of music to fans worldwide.”
