The African Union, in partnership with the International Committee of the All African Music Awards, AFRIMA, have formally unveiled the calendar of events for the upcoming 2021 edition of the awards ceremony. The unveiling event took place at the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The unveiling event marks the formal opening of AFRIMA 2021 and features a line-up of events that would take place from now to November 21, 2021.
Speaking on behalf of the African Union, the Director of health, Humanitarian Affairs and Social Development, Mrs. Cisse Mariama Mohamed, noted that “the COVID pandemic resulted in multiple setbacks for the continent, but AFRIMA is committed to uniting the continent through entertainment and honoring their tradition of celebrating the scintillating musical culture of Africa by featuring exhilarating Pan-Africa events through the lifespan of the calendar year in 2021 and we are looking forward to celebrating the richness of the African continent alongside AFRIMA in November this year”.
According to Mrs. Mohamed, the submission of entries marks the first official event of the 2021 AFRIMA calendar. The entries officially open globally on their official website, to “African music professionals either living on the continent or in the diaspora”. However, the entries close on Friday, August 20, 2021.
Further details on entries and program lineup
According to AFRIMA, the submission of songs and videos must be produced or released under the year in review, June 1, 2020, to August 20, 2021.
African music artistes, managers, producers, record label owners, recording companies, video directors, Disc Jockeys, Choreographers/dancers, and international acts are eligible to submit their works or submit on behalf of their clients via the official AFRIMA website for a possible nomination in one or more of the forty categories of AFRIMA.
That notwithstanding, other activities slated on the calendar include a pre-screening process, where submitted entries will go through screening carried out by the Screening Committee of AFRIMA. The screening process would be done within the period of August 21 to 28 2021, after which the International Jury of AFRIMA comprising a 13-man panel of experienced, respected African music experts and practitioners will carry out the AFRIMA Adjudication process from August 29th to September 6th.
On September 8th 2021, the AFRIMA Academy as well as African music fans and followers around the globe will begin to participate in the ‘AFRIMA Public Voting’ process which will be conducted on the website. The voting process, which closes 24 hours before the main awards ceremony, would be monitored and audited by a reputable International Auditing Firm.
Finally, the main awards ceremony, set to hold from November 18th to November 2021 in the host city, features “a three-day fiesta of music, glamour, Afrocentrism, and entertainment”.
The event commences with the Welcome Soiree followed by the Music Village, the Host City Tour, the Africa Music Business Summit, and the exclusive Nominees Party and concluded with the live Awards Ceremony.
It is worth noting that AFRIMA, is the pinnacle of African music awards globally. More so, AFRIMA is a music and cultural initiative developed to celebrate, reward, and showcase the rich musical heritage of Africa, stimulate conversations among Africans and between Africa and the rest of the globe about the great potentials and values of the African culture and artistic legacy to create jobs, reduce poverty, calling the attention of world leaders to Africa and promoting the positive image of Africa to the world.
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