By Ernest Osogbue

The 67^th Grammy Awards have come and gone, but the effects therefrom, would linger for a little while longer. Every year, the tempo of the Grammy frenzy in Nigeria keeps rising, especially since the recent addition of the Afrobeats genre as an award category. The clamor for Nigerian artistes to win it, being pioneers, and proponents of the genre, has therefore added more fire to the interest of their supporters in the outcome of the award.   

A few years ago, the issues of marginalization came to the fore at both the Oscar and Grammy Awards, when it became apparent that there was very little diversity in the nominations. It led to protests depicted by the ‘Oscars so white,’ and ‘Grammys so white’ campaign. Soon after that, Harvey Mason Jr., a black music executive, was made CEO of the Recording Academy; organizers of the Grammys, with a view to liberalizing the Awards environment. Harvey Mason Jr., however, is the son of legendary jazz drummer Harvey Mason Sr., of the popular jazz group, Fourplay, and a versatile sideman to many prominent jazz artists like George Benson and a host of others.

Coming from such a background, the appointment of Mason was seen as a way for the Grammys to loosen up. True to that expectation, Mason has made tremendous efforts towards inclusion, by bringing in more categories, and spreading the influence of the awards to areas hitherto untouched. This has seen the recent inclusion of an Afrobeats Award, strictly created to cater to African music, which had gained global appeal, due to the exploits of young Nigerian and other African musicians.

Other changes that have been affected since Mason took over, include “the addition of more than 3,000 women voting members. The Grammy electorate is now younger, nearly 40% people of color, and 66% of our members are new. Since we started our transformation this year, the 13,000 voting members nominated their peers, and voted for the winners you see here today.” That was Harvey Mason Jr., speaking on the Grammy stage, as he introduced Canadian musician, The Weekend, one of the most vocal critics of the awards in recent years.

It becomes clear that despite the Grammys being supposedly the pinnacle of awards, it has its challenges. It has been used as an instrument, either to punish or to reward. The Weekend, for instance, in 2021, had one of the most influential songs of that year, Blinding Lights. The song had a record 90-week run on the charts, peaking at number one, where it spent several weeks. Blinding Lights, was later named the greatest song of all time, by Billboard, in its Greatest of All Time Hot 100. Yet, the song never received a nomination, talk more of winning an award.

The case of Beyonce, is another matter entirely. Despite scoring hit music upon hit music, over the years, and becoming the most awarded artist in Grammy history, she never carted home the prestigious Album of the Year honors. There were several criticisms of this point by observers. However, with Harvey Mason Jr., as CEO, Beyonce suddenly wins Album of the Year, with a country music album that made less impact than any of her previous works.  

It follows therefore, that extraneous factors, beyond the quality of a musician’s work, influence who gets nominated, and who wins a Grammy Award. A catalogue of great musicians never to have won a Grammy Award, would read like a who’s who in music. Diana Ross, despite many nominations, never lifted an award, same goes for artistes like Katy Perry, Nikki Minaj, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, ABBA, Tupac Shakur, Snoop Dog, Sunny Okosuns, Brian McKnight, Jimi Hendrix, and The Notorious BIG, to name but a few. These artists, with some dead, and others still living, continue to wield enormous influence in the world of music till date, yet, they were never considered good enough to win a Grammy. It follows therefore, that winning the Grammy Award, is not the be all and end all, that people want us to believe.

Judging any work of art is a subjective venture, and so, depending on who is voting, the award could swing in any of many directions. For instance, in judging Afrobeats, most of the judges are neither Africans, nor Nigerians. Afrobeats for now, is a music genre popularized mostly by Nigerian singers, and a few other performers from Africa. Of the 13,000-member judging panel, there are less than 100 Africans, and fewer Nigerians. It follows therefore, that most judges do not understand the nuances of Afrobeats. They therefore judge it based on their general knowledge of music.

Afrobeats is basically street music, blended with lyrics curated from the environment and accompanied with a strong rhythmic beat. It may or may not have an overriding message, or sequence, however, it holds both emotional and spiritual significance to those who understand the nuances of its creation. When Davido or Wizkid uses a terminology, Nigerians understand, and can relate with it, the way no one else could. Same goes for Burna Boy, Asake, etc. It is therefore incongruous to expect a European or an American to judge African music the way Africans would judge it. When South African singer, Tyler, won the Grammy last year, I laughed, when Nigerians were complaining. I understood that Tyler’s music had more of R&B flavor, which the judges could easily relate with, more than with Afrobeats.

It follows therefore, that Europeans and Americans, are judging African music from their own perspective, rather than from an African perspective. While not diminishing the efforts of the winner(s), my message to our musicians and singers is that they must not rate themselves based on Grammy nominations or Grammy awards. The true worth of an artiste is the ability to connect with the audience at both the emotional and spiritual level, so that at the end of the encounter, they are both able to create memories that linger at the esoteric realm.

A musician who is able to achieve this level of connection with fans, has done his job. Winning or not winning awards is, therefore, secondary to the true essence of the artist. We must, consequently, learn not to attach too much importance to awards, which in reality, could never measure our true worth.

NOW THAT THE GRAMMYS HAVE COME AND GONE.

By Ernest Osogbue

The 67^th Grammy Awards have come and gone, but the effects therefrom, would linger for a little while longer. Every year, the tempo of the Grammy frenzy in Nigeria keeps rising, especially since the recent addition of the Afrobeats genre as an award category. The clamor for Nigerian artistes to win it, being pioneers, and proponents of the genre, has therefore added more fire to the interest of their supporters in the outcome of the award.   

A few years ago, the issues of marginalization came to the fore at both the Oscar and Grammy Awards, when it became apparent that there was very little diversity in the nominations. It led to protests depicted by the ‘Oscars so white,’ and ‘Grammys so white’ campaign. Soon after that, Harvey Mason Jr., a black music executive, was made CEO of the Recording Academy; organizers of the Grammys, with a view to liberalizing the Awards environment. Harvey Mason Jr., however, is the son of legendary jazz drummer Harvey Mason Sr., of the popular jazz group, Fourplay, and a versatile sideman to many prominent jazz artists like George Benson and a host of others.

Coming from such a background, the appointment of Mason was seen as a way for the Grammys to loosen up. True to that expectation, Mason has made tremendous efforts towards inclusion, by bringing in more categories, and spreading the influence of the awards to areas hitherto untouched. This has seen the recent inclusion of an Afrobeats Award, strictly created to cater to African music, which had gained global appeal, due to the exploits of young Nigerian and other African musicians.

Other changes that have been affected since Mason took over, include “the addition of more than 3,000 women voting members. The Grammy electorate is now younger, nearly 40% people of color, and 66% of our members are new. Since we started our transformation this year, the 13,000 voting members nominated their peers, and voted for the winners you see here today.” That was Harvey Mason Jr., speaking on the Grammy stage, as he introduced Canadian musician, The Weekend, one of the most vocal critics of the awards in recent years.

It becomes clear that despite the Grammys being supposedly the pinnacle of awards, it has its challenges. It has been used as an instrument, either to punish or to reward. The Weekend, for instance, in 2021, had one of the most influential songs of that year, Blinding Lights. The song had a record 90-week run on the charts, peaking at number one, where it spent several weeks. Blinding Lights, was later named the greatest song of all time, by Billboard, in its Greatest of All Time Hot 100. Yet, the song never received a nomination, talk more of winning an award.

The case of Beyonce, is another matter entirely. Despite scoring hit music upon hit music, over the years, and becoming the most awarded artist in Grammy history, she never carted home the prestigious Album of the Year honors. There were several criticisms of this point by observers. However, with Harvey Mason Jr., as CEO, Beyonce suddenly wins Album of the Year, with a country music album that made less impact than any of her previous works.  

It follows therefore, that extraneous factors, beyond the quality of a musician’s work, influence who gets nominated, and who wins a Grammy Award. A catalogue of great musicians never to have won a Grammy Award, would read like a who’s who in music. Diana Ross, despite many nominations, never lifted an award, same goes for artistes like Katy Perry, Nikki Minaj, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, ABBA, Tupac Shakur, Snoop Dog, Sunny Okosuns, Brian McKnight, Jimi Hendrix, and The Notorious BIG, to name but a few. These artists, with some dead, and others still living, continue to wield enormous influence in the world of music till date, yet, they were never considered good enough to win a Grammy. It follows therefore, that winning the Grammy Award, is not the be all and end all, that people want us to believe.

Judging any work of art is a subjective venture, and so, depending on who is voting, the award could swing in any of many directions. For instance, in judging Afrobeats, most of the judges are neither Africans, nor Nigerians. Afrobeats for now, is a music genre popularized mostly by Nigerian singers, and a few other performers from Africa. Of the 13,000-member judging panel, there are less than 100 Africans, and fewer Nigerians. It follows therefore, that most judges do not understand the nuances of Afrobeats. They therefore judge it based on their general knowledge of music.

Afrobeats is basically street music, blended with lyrics curated from the environment and accompanied with a strong rhythmic beat. It may or may not have an overriding message, or sequence, however, it holds both emotional and spiritual significance to those who understand the nuances of its creation. When Davido or Wizkid uses a terminology, Nigerians understand, and can relate with it, the way no one else could. Same goes for Burna Boy, Asake, etc. It is therefore incongruous to expect a European or an American to judge African music the way Africans would judge it. When South African singer, Tyler, won the Grammy last year, I laughed, when Nigerians were complaining. I understood that Tyler’s music had more of R&B flavor, which the judges could easily relate with, more than with Afrobeats.

It follows therefore, that Europeans and Americans, are judging African music from their own perspective, rather than from an African perspective. While not diminishing the efforts of the winner(s), my message to our musicians and singers is that they must not rate themselves based on Grammy nominations or Grammy awards. The true worth of an artiste is the ability to connect with the audience at both the emotional and spiritual level, so that at the end of the encounter, they are both able to create memories that linger at the esoteric realm.

A musician who is able to achieve this level of connection with fans, has done his job. Winning or not winning awards is, therefore, secondary to the true essence of the artist. We must, consequently, learn not to attach too much importance to awards, which in reality, could never measure our true worth.