Grammy CEO Visits Africa To Scope Afrobeats

[Jangle]

Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr, after meeting with Afrobeats creators in Ghana, says the Grammys were considering adding an award category for Afrobeats and that he “had been meeting with players in the genre to explore the possibility.”

“We called in producers, songwriters, artists, executives and we had a virtual listening session where we heard from Afrobeats creators. We just talked about, ‘What are the different subgenres? What are the needs? What are the desires?,” Mason Jr. reportedly said at a news conference on Sunday.

“My goal is to make sure that we represent all genres of music, including Afrobeats, at the Grammys. But it has to be done properly,” Mason added.

Amid the congratulatory messages following the announcement and the listening session which Mason described as “very important and very valuable and a step towards that path”, Dancehall producer Joey Lyric, of Lyrics Rhoom Entertainment, had expressed concern that Jamaicans have never been afforded the opportunity for such discussions or received a similar visit from the Grammy CEO.
https://www.dancehallmag.com/2022/09...1lmMPsi_pIfae0

[Jangle]

Reggae 101 – Schooling Stoneboy and Jamaicans

In a recent interview with The Cable Lifestyle newspaper, Ghananian Reggae/Dancehall artist Stonebwoy declared that Reggae doesn’t belong to any Caribbean society from its core and that it belongs to Africans. It is not the first time that a “big-name” African artiste has made this claim. In 1992, the late South African Reggae artiste, Lucky Dube, reportedly claimed that people would say reggae is Jamaican, but that is not true. It has only been popularized in Jamaica, but it is not Jamaican as such. Reggae is everywhere, but its roots are in Africa.

TAKING PRIDE IN OUR CULTURAL INFLUENCE
It is one thing that these privileged individuals would make such a claim, after all, it is their opinion. It is quite another matter when others, especially Jamaicans are prepared to give credence to such rubbish. Such uninformed views flies in the face of the fact that Jamaica sits proudly among the company of a handful of countries that are the most culturally influential in the world. Central to this is the fact Jamaica with a population of less than three million people has contributed at least seven genres of music to the world. This makes the island a global cultural powerhouse and provides every Jamaican with a reason to walk with our heads held high and our chests protruding with pride, especially when they hear a sliver of the island’s music.

https://jamaicans.com/reggae-101-sch...edium=facebook

[Lazie]

Jamaicans Have Ditched Dancehall’s Drum Pattern While Afrobeats Embraced It, Says Producer JonFX

https://www.dancehallmag.com/2022/10...cer-jonfx.html

[Jangle]

Grammy CEO Urges Reggae, Dancehall Community To Become Recording Academy Voting Members

“If Reggae and Dancehall and other genres want more representation, more nominations, for a variety of people, more performances on the (live Grammy Awards) show, more trophies, more services, I think membership is where it all starts.”

That’s the word from Harvey Mason Jr., CEO of the Recording Academy of Arts and Sciences, regarding where the focus of the Jamaican Reggae/Dancehall music fraternity should be as it relates to the Grammy Awards.

According to Mason, it is imperative that qualified members of Jamaica’s Reggae/Dancehall community register to become members of the Academy in order to be a part of decision-making, including determining the outcome of the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album.

In stressing the importance of membership in an interview with World Music Views, Mason pointed out that “voting is done entirely by members” after interviewer J.R. Watkis questioned whether the outcomes are at times based on voters making their selections on ‘big names’, as opposed to the music quality itself.

“For me, I would like to see more Reggae and Dancehall music makers, creators, being a part of our organization. That would have a direct impact co-relating exactly to what nominations were made and who would ultimately win…,” Mason said.

https://www.dancehallmag.com/2022/11...g-members.html

[Jangle]

Grammy CEO Speaks On Dancehall Having Its Own Category: “Anything Is Possible”

Harvey Mason Jr., CEO of the Recording Academy, is not ruling out Dancehall becoming a category on its own at the Grammy Awards, separate and apart from Reggae under which it is now subsumed.

Mason made the point after being asked, during a World Music Views interview, whether there was any possibility that Reggae and Dancehall could be made into two separate categories.

“It is possible, only because anything is possible. When it comes to categories, it depends on who submits,” Mason said.

“If the Dancehall community wanted its own category, and they felt so strongly about it and the stakeholders in that category felt like ‘we wanna have our own category’, they submit it, [once] they have the right language in the proposal, the right rationale as to why this is important, get signers on the proposal… get the right signers, get the justification, and you will have a new category.”

https://www.dancehallmag.com/2022/11...8bGY9GFN3qDuDM