The Recording Academy has added a new music category for African music; Best African Music Performance for the 66th Annual Grammy Awards.
It also announced two other additional categories—Best Alternative Jazz Album and Best Pop Dance Recording.
Additionally, the existing categories of producer of the year, non-classical and songwriter of the year, non-classical will be moved to the general field.
The category additions and amendments were voted on and passed at the Recording Academy’s most recent semi-annual Board of Trustees meeting, held last month.
Harvey Mason Jr., the Chief Executive Officer of the Recording Academy, said in a statement on Tuesday that the news categories represent the diverse range of relevant musical genres.
“The Recording Academy is proud to announce these latest category changes to our award process. These changes reflect our commitment to actively listen and respond to the feedback from our music community, accurately represent a diverse range of relevant musical genres, and stay aligned with the ever-evolving musical landscape,” Mason said
The addition of an award category for Africa is a recognition of recordings that utilise unique local expressions from across the African continent.
The category includes but is not limited to the Afrobeat, Afro-fusion, Afro Pop, Afrobeats, Alte, Amapiano, Bongo Flava, Genge, Kizomba, Chimurenga, High Life, Fuji, Kwassa, Ndombolo, Mapouka, Ghanaian Drill, Afro-House, South African Hip-Hop, and Ethio Jazz genres.
