Diamond Platnumz and Charlotte Dipanda win big at 2015 AFRIMA

The event began minutes past 8pm, a couple of hours behind its advertised schedule, and was anchored by DNG, ‘East Africa’s number 1 hype-man’, and Ivorian actress Aurelie Eliam. The duo treated the crowd to a few exchanges, DNG speaking English and Eliam French. A few attempts at Nigerian pidgin elicited laughs from the mostly Lagos crowd. They appeared to relish a particularly awful enunciation of a pidgin sentence by Eliam.

Cobhams Asuquo and Ladysmith Black Mambazo, first performers of the night, fared better. Their duets—Paul Simon’s 'Diamond on the Soles of her Shoes' and a brief rendition of LBM’s ‘Homeless’—went well with the crowd. Thereafter Asuquo handed the men of Ladysmith Black Mambazo’s a Lifetime Achievement Award. ‘The award,’ Asuquo said, was for the group’s effort at 'telling the African story authentically.' It was the night’s opening award.

Other awards followed, with Morocco sweeping the Northern regional categories through Ahmed Soutan and Manal. The symmetry of the regional prizes continued, as Cameroon through Stanley Enow and Dipanda took the Central African categories. 'Oh boy, I no come lagos come joke o,' Enow said. Nigeria’s Olamide and Yemi Alade won for West Africa. Neither took their awards personally as Alade was absent and Olamide was backstage, presumably in preparation for a later performance. South Africa’s Busiswa and Cassper Nyovest won the Southern African regional categories.

Most of the night’s performers were winners as well. Enow did two songs that has their roots in American hip-hop.  Busiswa’s performance seemed to confirm a long standing truth: Every South African can dance.

Performances and awards went past as midnight drew nearer. The Pillar of Culture Award was the night’s most unusual as its winner politician and former Lagos governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu went on for several minutes giving a speech that was of unclear relevance to the night’s proceedings. If anyone was disappointed at the mention of his contributing only two culture activities—bringing Fela on Broadway, the musical to Lagos and Lagos’s Eyo Festival—to merit the award they didn’t show it. Instead chants of his nickname ‘Jagaban’ rented the air.

The ceremony came to a close with Diamond’s double win in the general category taking Artist of the Year and Song of the Year for ‘Nasema Nawe’. He performed afterwards, his dance moves well-coordinated and his co-dancers precise. The crowd cheered. They saved the biggest cheers for Nigeria’s Olamide. The Lagos audience loves him so much he conducted several lines from his repertoire in silence, watching the audience mouth words to his music.

The concluding bit of the near 4-hour award ceremony then became a tale of two men. Olamide got the love. Diamond Platnumz got the awards.

ARTIST OF THE YEAR

Diamond Platnumz

SONG OF THE YEAR

Diamond Platnumz – ‘Nasema Nawe’ featuring Khadijo Kopa 

ALBUM OF THE YEAR

Charlotte Dipanda – “Elle n’a pas vu”

BEST ARTISTE IN AFRICA (RnB & Soul)

Praiz – Nigeria

BEST AFRICAN REGGAE, RAGGA & DANCEHALL

Stonebwoy – Ghana 

BEST MALE ARTISTE: INSPIRATIONAL CATEGORY

Darey – Nigeria

BEST FEMALE ARTISTE: INSPIRATIONAL CATEGORY

Betty Akna – Equatorial Guinea

VIDEO OF THE YEAR

Wiyaala – Ghana

BEST ARTISTE IN AFRICAN POP

Vanessa Mdee – Tanzania 

BEST ARTISTE IN AFRICAN HIP-HOP

Casper Nyovest – South Africa

BEST ARTISTE IN AFRICAN ELECTRO

Flavour – Nigeria

ENTERTAINMENT/MUSIC JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR

Oris Aigbokhaevbolo – Nigeria

PRODUCER OF THE YEAR

Sauti Sol and Cedric Kadenyi – Kenya 

SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR IN AFRICA

Joseph Chameleone – Uganda

REVELATION OF THE YEAR IN AFRICA

Adekunle Gold – Nigeria

MOST PROMISING ARTISTE IN AFRICA

Kiss Daniel – Nigeria

BEST ARTISTE IN AFRICAN CONTEMPORARY

Charlotte Dipanda – Cameroon 

BEST ARTISTE IN AFRICAN JAZZ

Kunle Ayo – Nigeria 

BEST MALE ARTISTE IN WESTERN AFRICA

Olamide – Nigeria 

BEST FEMALE ARTISTE IN WESTERN AFRICA

Yemi Alade – Nigeria 

BEST ARTISTE IN AFRICAN ROCK

M’vula – Kenya 

BEST AFRICAN GROUP

Sauti Sol – Kenya 

BEST AFRICAN COLLABORATION

AKA and Burna Boy – (South Africa/Nigeria) 

BEST FEMALE ARTISTE IN SOUTHERN AFRICA

Busiswa – South Africa 

BEST MALE ARTISTE IN SOUTHERN AFRICA

Cassper Nyovest – South Africa

BEST FEMALE ARTISTE IN NORTHERN AFRICA

Manal – Morocco

BEST MALE ARTISTE IN NORTHERN AFRICA

Ahmed Soutan- Morocco

BEST FEMALE ARTISTE IN EASTERN AFRICA

Tsedenia – Ethiopia

BEST MALE ARTISTE IN EASTERN AFRICA

Diamond Platnumz- Tanzania 

PILLAR OF CULTURE IN AFRICA

Bola Ahmed Tinubu - Nigeria