Music media company Trace has revealed the nominees for the first Trace Awards set to take place at the BK Arena in Kigali, Rwanda, on 21 October 2023. Among the nominees who scooped up nominations from the music company here in SA is K.O who scored three Trace Awards nominations including Best Male, Song of the Year, and Best Collaboration.
Best Live and Best Collaboration nominations went to Musa Keys, Best Music Video nominations to Blxckie, and Best Newcomer nominations to Pabi Cooper.
Robot Boii is nominated in the Best Dancer category while Uncle Waffles is the nominee for Best DJ.
Additionally, DJ Maphorisa and Kabza De Small are competing for the Best Producer award, while the renowned Bishop Benjamin Dube is nominated in the gospel category.
The award show will celebrate genres such as Afrobeats, dancehall, hip hop, mbalax, amapiano, zouk, kizomba, genge, coupé décalé, bongo flava, soukous, gospel, rap, rai, kompa, R&B and rumba.
West African musicians, specifically Nigerian musicians, are the most nominated, with more than 40 nominations altogether. This includes numerous nominations for Burna Boy, Ayra Starr, Davido, WizKid, Tiwa Savage, Yemi Alade, Fireboy DML, and Rema.
According to IOL, the chairperson and co-founder of Trace, Olivier Laouchez, told Independent Media the following: “African and African diaspora artists are extraordinarily creative and dynamic. They represent a massive cultural force and deserve more global recognition and celebration.”
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