Wizkid, Tems Excluded As Grammy Releases African Award Winners’ List

The organisers of the prominent Grammy Awards have put forward a list of African musicians who have gone home with a golden gramophone.

This move is done ahead of the 66th Grammy Awards which will be happening on February 4, 2023.

The ceremony would stream live on CBS and on-demand on Paramount .

In the list, the late South African singer, Miriam Makeba, came first as the first African to win a Grammy award in 1966 for ‘Best Folk Recording(with Harry Belafonte) followed by Nigerian pop singer, Sade Adu, who became the first Nigerian to bag the award in 1986 for ‘Best New Artist’.

The second to last name on its list was Burna Boy, who won the award for ‘Best Global Music Album’ in 2021. 

The list of only 10 names, however, did not carry Nigerian singers, Wizkid and Tems which has caused a stir online.

Wizkid in 2021, won his first-ever Grammy award for his role in ‘Brown Skin Girl’, a 2019 song by Beyonce in the ‘Best Music Video’ category while in 2022 Tems won her first-ever Grammy award in the ‘Best Melodic Rap Performance’ category for her role in ‘Wait for U’, the hit song by Future featuring Drake.

Below is the full list:

1. Miriam Makeba (South Africa) — Best Folk Recording (with Harry Belafonte) – 1966
2. Sade Adu (Nigeria/UK) — Best New Artist – 1986
3. Ali Farka Touré (Mali) — Best World Music Album – 1994
4. Cesária Évora (Cape Verde) — Best Contemporary World Music Album – 2004
5. Youssou N’Dour (Senegal) — Best Contemporary World Music Album – 2005
6. Angélique Kidjo (Benin/France) — Best Contemporary World Music Album – 2008
7. RedOne (Morocco) — Best Dance/Electronic Album – 2010
8. Tinariwen (Mali/Algeria/Libya) — Best World Music Album – 2012
9. Burna Boy (Nigeria) — Best Global Music Album – 2021
10. Black Coffee (South Africa) – Best Dance/ Electronic Album — 2022

Speaking on Burna Boy, the award organisers wrote: “Femi Kuti, King Sunny Adé, Babatunde Olatunji, and his rival WizKid had all received GRAMMY nods before Burna Boy became the first Nigerian male artist to grab a golden gramophone for original work. The Afrobeats megastar earned the prize for Best World Music Album in 2021 for his album Twice as Tall.”

The Nation reported that Burna Boy aside from being a nominee, would be performing on stage on Sunday in Los Angeles during the show alongside other artists including Luke Combs, Travis Scott, Billie Eillish, Dua Lipa, and Olivia Rodrigo amongst others.