Ghanaian-American singer Amaarae has expressed her disappointment with the Recording Academy widely known as the Grammy Awards, for consolidating all African music genres into a single category.
Known in private life as Ama Serwah Genfi, the music sensation known for her unique blend of genres argued that the Recording Academy’s approach is reductive and failed to recognize the diverse and influential contributions of African artists to the global music scene.
Speaking in an interview with Metro TV, the ‘Fountain Baby’ singer who was responding to the introduction of the ‘Best African Music Performance’ category at the Grammys voiced her concerns about the grouping of all African musical genres into one category at the Grammys.
“The idea of an African category is great in practice, but I think it is reductive. There are too many categories to just be placed under an umbrella of African music,” she disclosed
The Academy recently unveiled three new additions to the 2024 Grammys, which will take place at the 66th GRAMMY Awards and it includes the ‘Best African Music Performance’ category which encompasses various African music genres, including Afrobeats, Afro-pop, Amapiano, High Life, Fuji, Kwassa, Ndombolo, Mapouka, Ghanaian Drill, Afro-House, South African Hip-Hop, and Ethio Jazz.
While acknowledging the positive intention behind creating an African category, she highlighted that it oversimplifies the rich and multifaceted music landscape of the continent
“Take a song like ‘Sad Girlz’, ‘Calm Down,’ or ‘Last Last’; these are all songs that didn’t just do well in Africa but did well globally and had humongous global impacts. So, to me, they are popular records,” Amaarae explained.
Citing other examples such as Rema’s ‘Calm Down’ featuring Selena Gomez and Burna Boy’s ‘Last Last,’ Amaarae believes these songs should be eligible for consideration in the broader pop, hip-hop, or R&B categories.
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“So, I feel like a record like [Rema’s] ‘Calm Down’ with the remix with Selena Gomez, that should be able to compete in pop categories [at the Grammys],” Amaarae explained, “I feel like [Burna Boy’s] ‘Last Last’ should be able to compete in hip-hop, RnB or pop categories and not be relegated to just the African category because that’s reductive of the works that [African] artists have done to break boundaries.”
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The criticism raised by Amaarae is at odds with the aims of the Recording Academy whose boss, Harvey Mason Jr. revealed that the new categories are “to honour and celebrate the creators and recordings in these categories, while also exposing a wider range of music to fans worldwide.”
However, it is also important the Recording Academy also acknowledges the diversity and complexity of African music as rightly expressed by Amaarae.