HONOUR has come the way of Nigerian
musicians, as R&B duo, P-Square, Paul and
Peter, were crowned Africa's best in the
recent Kora music awards held in Burkina
Faso's capital, Ouagadougou.
The programme was attended by some
3,000 people including the country's
President, Blaise Compaore
According to the Agence France Presse
(AFP), the twins Paul and Peter who form P-
Square beat Senegalese group, Black
Diamond, Angola's Paul G and homegrown
Amety Meria to scoop the top award, which
is worth $1million, on Sunday.
The singer from Cape Verde, Cesaria Evora
and Gabon's Pierre Akendengue picked up
lifetime achievement awards, and homage
was also paid to the late Michael Jackson at
the ceremony held in Ouagadougou's
sports stadium.
The only black mark on the evening was the
absence of Senegalese-American R&B star
Akon who, despite being offered a private
jet and $150,000, did not make the trip to
the Burkina Faso capital.
Kora awards promoter, Ernest Adjovi,
deplored the singer's absence and
apologised to the "15 million Burkinabes
and the billion Africans" watching the
ceremony.
No fewer than 100 television channels in 22
countries broadcast the ceremony live,
organisers said.
Other successes on the night included Becca
(Ghana) for best African prospect, Chronicle
2h (Senegal) for best reggae artist and Alicia
Keys, also absent, who was crowned best
African-American artist of the Diaspora.
Artists from 24 African countries took part
in the competition, whose awards are
decided through a share of public and jury
votes.
The Kora awards were created in 1996 and
the ceremony took place for the first time
outside South Africa.
No comments:
Post a Comment