The 68th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony hosted by Trevor Noah, was held on Sunday, February 1, 2026 in Los Angeles, California.
The Grammys is the most prestigious award in the largest music industry in the world. Its focus has always been US music styles in categories like pop, R&B, rap, country, jazz and classical.
There are many categories in which the Grammy Awards are presented, including Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist. Every year, the awards are presented to the winners at a presentation ceremony that is broadcast live with musical performances by nominees and other popular acts
As musical styles from abroad move into the US commercial market, the Grammy Foundation has tried to recognise them – beyond the generic “folk music” category it first used to put them in. So categories were established like Latin, Mexican, reggae, world music and global music.
Now Africa has its own best song category, the first continent with this distinction. This is clearly a nod to the growing popularity of African music in the US — notably Afrobeats from Nigeria.
For the first time in its 65-year history the Grammy Awards in the US has introduced an African category, Best African Music Performance, which recognises the song of the year.
Few African artists received Grammy nominations until 1992, when the Best World Music Album category was added. A diverse range of African music came to dominate this category. But “world music” was criticised for being outmoded. The award was renamed Best Global Music Album in 2021. The reasons given included:
The change symbolises a departure from the connotations of colonialism, folk and ‘non-American’.
The new name came with a shift in which music received nominations. “World music” tended to recognise regional music styles released on small independent labels. “Global music” was seemingly more focused on more commercial music that was also reaching the US charts. It tended to reward Afrobeats and other popular electronic dance music that took creative cues from the US. African artistes have now been offered a seat at the table. And the stakes for the representation of African culture have just been raised. . In 1960 the Best Folk Performance category was added. This was the key.
In 1961, Miriam Makeba received three nominations (new artist, female vocalist and folk). She was the first African artist nominated and it happened again in 1964 and 1965. Folk was the only category that could accommodate singing with clicks like hers – in South African languages with acoustic string instruments and hand percussion.
In 1966 Makeba won her only Grammy. It was in the folk category. She had two albums in the running: Makeba Sings and the winner, An Evening with Belafonte/Makeba.
Harry Belafonte was a well-established US singer and film star. His early sponsorship was essential. This would be a recurring theme, from Paul Simon and Ladysmith Black Mambazo to Peter Gabriel and Youssou N’Dour to Drake and Wizkid to Beyoncé and the predominantly Nigerian artistes on her 2019 Lion King album. Burna Boy, who appeared on it, received his first Grammy nomination the following year.
This year 2026, Roots Rocking in Zimbabwe: The Modern Sound of Harare’ Townships 1975–1980, a compilation album by German record label Analog Africa which is run by Samy Ben Radjev, along with a book of the same title by Fred Zindi (It’s an honour to be nominated) was nominated under the category of Best Historical Album for the 2026 Grammy Awards.
Roots Rocking in Zimbabwe received high acclaim from renowned music commentators, with Jim Irvin of Mojo Records describing the album as “a splendid primer for a sound that deserves more attention,” and Jason Anderson of Uncut Records writing that “the songs bristle with an energy that connects with the wider struggle for national liberation happening outside the recording studio.”
The physical release of the album came with a booklet from musician. author and academic, Professor Fred Zindi containing historical background, band profiles, and archival photographs.
The 25 track compilation was nominated alongside .. Rock, rumba, soul and traditional grooves which all collide in the collection. It also includes never-before-released tracks by Thomas Mapfumo, Oliver Mtukudzi and many other Zimbabwean artistes.
Like Isaacs Meets Isaac, a reggae album by King Isaac Kalumbu and Gregory Isaacs in 2010, Roots Rocking in Zimbabwe was nominated but did not win the award.
Incidentally, Grammy- nominated reggae singer,.King Isaac comes to Harare this month of March. He will give a welcome home live concert and launch his new single , African Girl at Theatre in the Park on Saturday 20th March. If what I hear from this song is anything to go by, I cant afford to miss this show.
This first batch of best performance nominees provides further clues that US record conglomerates are strongly shaping Grammy recognition.
The first Grammy Awards ceremony was in 1959, the same year South African star Miriam Makeba first toured the US.
Makeba was also the first African artist to break into the upper reaches of the US Billboard charts (Pata Pata reached number 12 in 1967). She was followed by South African Hugh Masekela’s Grazing in the Grass (first spot in 1968) and Cameroonian Manu Dibango’s Soul Makossa (35th in 1973). Then a long drought.
Masekela’s feat has yet to be duplicated by an African born-and-raised solo artist. Sade, Seal, Akon and Chamillionaire, children of immigrants from Nigeria or Senegal in the US and the UK, all hit number one. Sade and Seal won Grammys.
Nigeria’s Wizkid hit top spot as a guest of Drake (2016) and Tems when sampled by Future (2022).
The new category provided a huge boost for African artistes.
In seven of the eight years of the traditional award the winners were South African choral groups and Malian kora players. Angelique Kidjo from Benin alone won four times before the name change. Cameroon, Cape Verde, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Madagascar, Malawi, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal and Uganda also received nominations.
But objections to “world music” persisted for being a catch-all category that marginalised artistes and their cultures.
We will see what happens next year as Africa is now consistently being recognised at the Grammy Awards Ceremonies.
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