Battle For Supremacy at AFRIMA

Battle For Supremacy at AFRIMA

Vanessa Obioha

Apparently, jollof rice isn’t the only rivalry between Ghana and Nigeria. The two neighbouring countries have been at war on whose rice specialty tastes better. Now, music has also been thrown into that mix. This was very much evident at the recently held All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA) held in Accra, Ghana.

The awards saw Nigeria and Ghana clinching more awards than any other country represented in the music event. Nigeria however took home most of the awards including the Artiste of the Year won by the ‘Fia’ crooner, Davido. The artiste also took home the award for Best Male Artiste in West Africa region. It is the second time the artiste is winning in those two categories. In 2014, he emerged the Artiste of the Year and also the Best Artiste in West Africa.

For the second time, Mavin star Tiwa Savage won the Best Female Artiste in Nigeria award. She was the winner in this category at last year’s edition.

Praiz, The X3M music artiste was among the winners of the night, clinching the trophy for Best Artiste in African R&B, while Mr. P, the other half of the defunct P-Square won in the category of the Best Artiste in African Dance/Choreography.

Falz on the other hand emerged the winner of the Best African Rapper and Lyricist.
2Baba who also performed at the event took the trophy for the Best Artiste in African Pop for his song ‘Amaka’ ft Peruzzi.

Overall, Nigeria dominated the award with nine wins, including the award for the Best African Collaboration for ‘Akwaaba’ (GuiltyBeatz, Mr. Eazi, Patapaa and Pappy Kojo).

Following closely was Ghana with seven wins including Song of the Year for ‘Akwaaba’ (GuiltyBeatz, Mr. Eazi, Patapaa and Pappy Kojo). Once again, top Ghana sensation Stonebwoy knocked out his rival Shatta Wale in the category of Best Artiste/Duo/Group in Ragga/Reggae/Dancehall. Other Ghana topshots who also took home awards include Sarkodie for Best Male Artiste in African Inspirational Music and M.anifest ft King Promise for Best Artiste/Duo/ Group in African Hip-hop.

Just as in the jollof war, Nigeria is still showing dominance in the music arena. It is a known fact that Nigerian music is the most recognised sound in Africa. Artistes like Davido, Olamide, WizKid, Patoranking, Tiwa Savage, Yemi Alade are famous round the continent. To be sure, Ghana has her own reigning musical kings. The likes of Sarkodie, M.aNifest, Wiyaala are making the Gold Coast proud. But as pointed out by Rab Bakari, a renowned music businessman during the African Music Business Summit, Ghana fails to promote her stars beyond the country.

A high percentage of music played on airwaves are mostly foreign as stated at the summit. For Ghana to win this musical war with Nigeria, her artistes must go beyond collaborations with Nigerian and other African acts and promote their music on every given platform both locally and internationally.

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