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New Grammy category for African music ignores almost all of Africa
Grammy is unveiling an award for "Best African Music Performance." Do the nominees fulfill the goal of "recognizing recordings that utilize unique local expressions from across the ... continent"?
The Academy had even specifically listed some of the genres they hoped to include in the category, from chimurenga (traditional thumb-piano music from Zimbabwe played on electric instruments) to Ethio-jazz (Amharic melodies from Ethiopia blended with 12-note jazz scales). "I feel like there's some laziness with the Global Grammys," notes Emel Mathlouthi, 40, a Tunisian singer who rose to fame with her protest song " Kelmti Horra" ("My Word is Free") when it became an anthem during the Arab Spring. The only exceptions are a nomination in 1996 shared by The Splendid Master Gnawa Musicians of Morocco with a U.S. collaborator, and Egypt's Fathy Salama Orchestra winning a "Contemporary World Music" Grammy for accompanying Senegal superstar Youssou N'Dour on his victorious album in 2005.
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