The effort to create a Grammy Award category for Afrobeats is currently in the works, as confirmed by Harvey Mason Jr., the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Recording Academy.
Harvey disclosed this in a recent chat with the media in Ghana. He noted that there have been consultations with the significant players of the music genre, Afrobeats, indicating the steps to take in having a distinct category at the Grammy Awards.
Fielding questions from journalists, Harvey said;
“We just had a meeting literarily about six to seven days ago, with leaders of the Afrobeats community… We had listening session where we heard from Afrobeats creators, we talked about the different subgenres, what are the needs, what are the desires, and my goal is to represent all genres of music including Afrobeats at the Grammys.
“But it has to be done properly. I don’t decide categories. The categories are decided by proposals by members. Members can say ‘Harvey, I want an Afrobeat category,’ they write a proposal for the category they talked about. So that process is started now. We did a listening session last week for the step towards that path.”
See the video below.
The Recording Academy is now considering an Afrobeats category at the annual Grammys ceremony 🏆
Harvey Manson Jr., the CEO of The Academy, revealed in an interview with the press in Ghana over the weekendpic.twitter.com/kZuXpMoCJS
— TurnTable Charts (@TurntableCharts) September 26, 2022