The cream of African music, locally represented by Winky D, BKay and Kaz, Audius Mtawarira, Jah Seed and Shingai Shoniwa, will converge at the Afrotainment Studios in New York on September 24 for the Museke Online Africa Music Awards (Moamas).
The red carpet event, which is now in its second year, is held annually to recognise African talent. The awards are hosted by Museke.com, an African online music site which seeks to unify Africa through its music and partners.
Tumi Diseko, Museke chief marketing officer, said the Moamas provided African artists with an opportunity to shine beyond the continent’s borders.
“This is a chance for African artists to win more fans and shine. This initiative acknowledges both the fans’ and the artists’ roles in ensuring the continued evolution of the African music industry”, he said.
Winky D was nominated in the best dancehall song category for the hit track Musarova Big Man. Other artists nominated in that category are Goodlyfe (Uganda), Timaya (Nigeria), Bebe Cool (Uganda), Proff (Kenya), General Ozzy (Zambia) and Samini (Ghana).
South Africa-based Zimbabwean Jah Seed’s Clueless was nominated for the Best reggae song. Jah Seed will compete with Rocky Dawuni (Ghana), Youssou Ndour (Senegal), Tiken Jah Fakoly (Ivory Coast), Ahmed Soultan (Morocco), Jay Arr (Sierra Leone) and Nneka (Nigeria).
Australia-based Audius Mtawarira was nominated in the Afro fusion category for his track Saka Manje. Asa (Nigeria), Angelique Kidjo (Benin), Freshly Ground (South Africa), Clarisse Albrecht (Cameroun), Abd Al Malik (DRC), Lagbaja (Nigeria) were also nominated in this category.
BKay and Kazz who are based in the UK have been nominated for the Record of the Year category for the track, Seven Wonders.
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They will compete with 2 Face Idibia (Nigeria), Eldee (Nigeria), Ayamaah (South Africa), Didier Awadi (Senegal), Maurice Kirya (Uganda), and Daara J Family (Senegal).
UK-based Shingai Shoniwa was also nominated for the Diaspora Song category. She will compete against Clarisse Albrecht (Cameroun), Nelson Freitas (Cape Verde), Kaysha (DRC), Tolumide (Nigeria) and La Selesao (DRC).
Voting has begun and will end on September 18. To vote, one should log on to the www.moamas.com website and also stand a chance of winning a ticket to the glamorous event.
Diseko said the winners would be awarded with packages where their music will be promoted through various media while their online presence will also be enhanced.
South Africa’s Freshly Ground, Nigeria’s 2 Face Idibia, DRC’s Fally Ipupa, and Senegals Viviane N’dour are dominating this year’s awards with five nominations each.
Last year, Lizha James, Dama do Bling, Amr Diab, and Perola emerged multiple winners of the inaugural Moamas.
As part of Museke’s ongoing efforts to showcase African Music in North America, it has partnered with Afrotainment in an agreement whereby Afrotainment will be the exclusive broadcast and media partner for Museke’s second annual online African music awards.
The awards have therefore been changed to Afrotainment Moamas.
The Afrotainment family of channels is the first and only network of television channels in North America dedicated to broadcast the best African movies, series, realities, comedies and music for the highly coveted African Diaspora in the US. Eric Noue from Afrotainment said:
“This collaboration reiterates Afrotainments commitment to the North American market with an African music awards show being broadcast for the first time live on national TV in North America and via web streaming worldwide, reflecting yet another facet of our growth strategy.”
Museke.com was launched in 2006 by a group of African music fans from across the continent with the vision of becoming a one-stop-shop for everything related to African music in every genre found on the continent.
