Highlife is part of new Best African Performance Grammy category
Ghana’s Highlife music has been recognised as part of relevant African music styles for the Best African Music Performance category at this year's Grammy.
The Best African Music Performance category is one of the three new slots that have been added to the 2024 edition of the prestigious awards scheme. The other two are the Best Alternative Jazz Album and Best Pop Dance Recording.
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Apart from Highlife music, the popular Ghanaian drill spearheaded by the Asaaka boys from Kumasi was mentioned as a music style for the Grammy Best African Music Performance category.
The latest news is quite reassuring for promoters of Highlife who have been advocating for global recognition for the genre.
Last year, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Recording Academy, Harvey Manson Jnr. Disclosed the scheme’s intention to get the right representation for African music when he visited Ghana.
“Best African Music Performance’ category as “a track and singles category that recognizes recordings that utilise unique local expressions from across the African continent.
Highlighting regional melodic, harmonic and rhythmic musical traditions, the Category includes but is not limited to the Afrobeat, Afro-fusion, Afro Pop, Afrobeats, 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,” the category definition states.
According to grammy.com, these category additions and amendments were voted on and passed at the Recording Academy’s most recent semiannual Board of Trustees meeting held in May 2023.
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“The Recording Academy is proud to announce these latest Category changes to our Awards process. These changes reflect our commitment to actively listen and respond to the feedback from our music community, accurately represent a diverse range of relevant musical genres, and stay aligned with the ever-evolving musical landscape,” Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason jr. said.
“By introducing these three new categories, we are able to acknowledge and appreciate a broader array of artists – and relocating 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,” Mason continued. “We are excited to honor and celebrate the creators and recordings in these categories, while also exposing a wider range of music to fans worldwide,” he added.
The announcement has sparked mixed reactions on social media with some calling for the inclusion of of Hiplife over Drill music.
“Ghanaian Drill is variant of Hiplife; a burgeoning sub-genre of hiplife still in its formative stage. Hiplife deserved a mention in that category definition more than Ghanaian Drill.
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“This is no hate, no tribalism. Fact!” Kwame Dadzie posted.
Kelly Nii Lartey Mensah posted on Facebook: Ghana Drill. Highlife in Grammy category. The glory to young people innovating highlife with new sounds. Be proud to call yourselves highlife artistes.
But To my drill and Kumerica yobos, the awards in Ghana ignored you but the Grammys has got you! Let’s go GH!!
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