It is no longer news that the 62nd Grammy Awards event is around the corner. However, what many may not know is that for the first time in decades, the award show will be held in January against its age-long tradition of hosting the annual ceremony in February.
What is more, a good number of Africans made it to the list of nominees for the prestigious music award.
The nominees for different categories in the award were announced on Wednesday by the Recording Academy organizers.
The prestigious award will be hosted by multi-Grammy winning American singer, Alicia Keys at the Staples Centre, Los Angeles, California, on 26 January 2020.
Here is a list of Africans nominated and the categories in which they have been nominated, in the 2020 Grammy Awards.
Burna Boy
Country: Nigeria
Category: Best World Music
The African Giant received his debut Grammy nomination for the ‘Best World Music Album’. The Afrobeat singer got the nomination with his 2019 “African Giant” album.
He announced the nomination via his Twitter handle @Burnaboy saying:
Angelique Kidjo
Country: Benin
Category: Best World Music
Also nominated in the same category with Burna Boy is the multi-Grammy-winning Angelique Kidjo.
She is nominated for her latest album, Celia which is a tribute to the late Afro-Cuban Celia Cruz. The Beninoise is the only African to have won the Grammy up to 3 times.
Trevor Noah
Country: South Africa
Category: Best Comedy Album
Trevor Noah is a South African-American comedian, political commentator and thespian. He took to his Twitter and Instagram handles to announce his nomination.
His work ‘Son of Patricia’ earned him the nomination for the ‘Best Comedy Album’.
The above named Africans are the individually-nominated candidates for the Grammy Awards.
However, a few other Africans made the 2020 Grammy nomination list, as they were joint nominees for their contributions on Beyonce’s album, Lion King: The Gift which was nominated for ‘Best Pop Vocal Album’.
The artistes are: Wizkid, Shatta Wale, Tiwa Savage, Salatiel, Yemi Alade, Busiswa, Tekno, Mr Eazi, Moonchild Sanelly, Busiswa and Burna Boy.