Wizkid, Naomi Achu, Flavour Nabania, Diamond Platnumz, Cindy Sanyu win big at AFRIMA 2016

The best of African artistes were honoured on Sunday in Lagos, Nigeria, at the 3rd edition of the All Africa Music Awards – AFRIMA 2016.

On a night of surprises, Tanzania’s Diamond Platnumz bagged the award for Song of the Year for his Utanipenda while Phyno of Nigeria was named African Fans Favorite and his compatriot Aramide, the Best Female West Africa.

Cindy Sanyu (Uganda) clinched Best Female East Africa while Naomi Achu (Cameroon) took the title for the Best Inspirational Female, Nigeria’s Flavour Nabania took home two awards – Best Artiste/Duo/Group/Band in African Contemporary and Best Male Artiste West Africa.

Nigeria’s Wizkid, beat Tiwa Savage (Nigeria), Tekno Diamond Platnumz, Sarkodie (Ghana), Navio & Eddy Kenzo (Uganda) and Black Coffee (South Africa) to win the most coveted title, Artiste of the Year. It was a special night for Wizkid, 26, as he was also honoured in far away Rotterdam, Netherlands, with the trophies for ‘Best African Act’ and ‘Worldwide Act’ at the 2016 MTV EMAs.

It has been a terrific year for the Nigerian hip-hop star, whose real name is Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun. He took three wins at the 2016 MTV MAMAs in South Africa barely three weeks ago, where he won ‘Artiste of the Year’, ‘Best Male Act’ and ‘Best Collaboration out of Africa’. There’s also his ‘Best African Act’ award at the 2016 MOBO awards in London which he took just days to AFRIMA in Lagos.

Nigeria Juju music legend King Sunny Ade and Cameroon’s Afro-Jazz legend Manu Dibango, were presented with a Special Recognition Award.

In partnership with the African Union Commission and the official host, Lagos State, AFRIMA 2016 calendar of events on  4-6 November included the Africa Music Business Summit; the AFRIMA Music Village – an open concert-style festival featuring nominees and other top billed music stars; and finally, the grand awards ceremony on Sunday.

AFRIMA celebrates the best talent in the African music industry – which aligns with the vision of the African Union to foster peace, unity and development through cultural expressions and creative enterprise.

Vivian Asamoah

Full List of Winners of the All Africa Music Awards – AFRIMA 2016:

Best Male East Africa – Diamond Platnumz (Tanzania)

Best Female East Africa – Cindy Sanyu (Uganda)

Best Male South Africa – Black Coffee (South Africa)

Best Female South Africa – Sally Boss Madam (Namibia)

Best Male Central Africa – Wax Dey (Cameroon)

Best Female Central Africa – Bruna Tatiana (Angola)

Best Male North Africa – DJ Van (Morocco)

Best Female North Africa – Zina Daoudia (Morocco)

Best Male West Africa – Flavour (Nigeria)

Best Female West Africa – Aramide (Nigeria)

Best Inspirational Female – Naomi Achu (Cameroon)

Best Artiste/Dou/GroupBand in African Contemporary – Flavour (Nigeria)

Most Promising Artiste – Amine Aub (Morocco)

African Fans Favorite – Phyno (Nigeria)

Song writer of the year – Unique (Uganda)

Special Recognition Award – King Sunny Ade (Nigeria)

Best Artist/Duo/Group African Hiphop – Stanley Enow (Cameroon)

Best Artist/Duo/Group African Ragga & Dancehall – Patoranking (Nigeria)

Best Artist/Duo/Group African Traditional music – Zeynab (Benin)

Best Artist/Duo/Group African Electro – Such (Zimbabwe)

Best Artist/Duo/Group African RnB – Henok & Mehari Brothers (Ethiopia)

Best Artist/Duo/Group in African Rock – M’vula (Angola)

Best African Jazz – Jimmy Dludlu (South Africa)

Best African Group – VVIP (Ghana)

Best African Collaboration – Mbilo Mbilo by Eddy Kenzo (Uganda) ft Niniola (Nigeria)

Video of the Year – Dogo Yaro by VVIP (Ghana)

Revelation of the year – Falz (Nigeria)

Album of the year – Ahmed Soultan (Morocco)

Song of the year – Utanipenda by Diamond Platnumz (Tanzania)

Artist of the Year – Wizkid (Nigeria)