Musawa discusses global African music upscale with Recording Academy

By Tosin Brown

Honourable Hannatu Musawa, the minister of arts, culture, and creative economy, has met with the Recording Academy, producers of globally acclaimed music rewarding platform, The Grammy.

Musawa revealed that she met with the Recording Academy representatives alongside four other countries to investigate modalities for a global African music upscale.

“I took part in a round table meeting with the Recording Academy, and four other countries to investigate modalities for a Global African Music upscale,” she revealed in a recent social media post.

Continuing, Musawa said, “The meeting which took place on Tuesday at the Convention Centre in Kigali, Rwanda is aimed at elevating the vibrant music and culture of Africa unto the global stage.

“The steering committee discussed issues affecting the African music industry including Intellectual Property Rights, Piracy, and poor funding.”

The honourable minister also announced that the meeting afforded member countries to support economic policies for creative industries.

“Member countries also committed to supporting economic policies for creative industries which involve working with governments and policymakers to create favorable environments for artists and creators, fostering a cohesive Pan-African vision for the music industry, promoting intellectual property rights and creative innovation, facilitating artistic mobility of music creators through unhindered access to performance venues across continents, access to global opportunities through joint programs and cross collaborations to ensure that African creators share their talents on the world stage as well as provision of educational resources, training and global elevation of African music and cultural excellence,” Musawa noted.

Other key stakeholders at the meeting included the Recording Academy’s Chair, Tammy Hurt, the CEO of the Recording Academy Harvey Mason Jr., Co-President Panos A. Panay, and the Special Advisor to the CEO and President of the Recording Academy Joe Phelan.

Also at the meeting were the Minister of Youth and Arts in Rwanda, Hon. Utumatwishima Jean Nepo Abdallah, Minister of Sports and Culture in Kenya Hon. Ababu Namwamba, Acting Minister of Sports, Art, Tsholofelo Lejaka who represented the Ministry from South Africa and the representative of Afrexim Bank Temwa Gondwe.