The International Committee of All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA) and The African Union Commission (AUC) have announced the programme for the biggest music event in Africa, the 5th AFRIMA-Ghana 2018 holding in the Gold Coast City of Accra from Wednesday, November 21, to Saturday, November 24 under the theme ‘Africa is Gold’.

Ghana was unveiled as the 5th AFRIMA Official Host Country by the AUC on September 5 at the African Union Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Subsequently, the Republic of Ghana accepted the Official Host Country rights on Tuesday, September 11 during a media event held at the Kempinski Hotel, Gold Coast City Accra and attended by top Ghanaian government officials led by the Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Ghana, Honourable Catherine Afeku.

Kicking off the back-to-back exhilarating events program for the 5th AFRIMA on November 21 is the AFRIMA Welcome Soiree, a reception in honour of arriving AFRIMA nominees and delegates, African Union officials, members of the International Committee of AFRIMA, media and other invited guests.

This is followed by the Africa Music Business Summit (AMBS) on November 22 at the Ballroom, Kempinski Hotel, Gold Coast City, Accra, between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. To be held under the theme “African Music in a Global Village: Leveraging the Opportunities”, the annual AMBS is a panel discussion platform to interrogate and strategise on the business of music in Africa while charting a synergistic way forward for development and economic empowerment for the music talents. It is a platform for business networking and interaction among music professionals, music executives, government officials and other stakeholders in the music, media and financial sectors of Africa while discussing the potentials present in the continent’s music industry and ways to harness its socio-economic gains.

Later in the day on November 22, at the AFRIMA Music Village, lovers and fans of African music are in for high octane performances by upcoming and A-list artistes from across the continent in a festival-style music concert which holds at the 100,000-capacity Independence Square, Accra, from 5:00 p.m. till dawn. The event will be broadcast live on dedicated satellite event channels.

In a bid to showcase the cultural and historical dynamism of the beautiful host city, invited guests will be treated to a tour of landmarks and sights of Accra on Friday, November 23. This will be followed by the Nominee’s Party from 10:00 p.m.

The live broadcast Main Awards Ceremony on Saturday, November 24, will have in attendance high profile guests from across the continent and the Diaspora. Scheduled for the Accra International Conference Centre, AICC, Ghana, by 7:30 p.m., the star-studded awards show will begin with the live-broadcast red carpet at 4:30 p.m. where all the glam, glitz and high fashion of the 5th AFRIMA-Ghana 2018 will be on display. The awards ceremony to be broadcast to 84 countries on 105 partner media channels will also feature a potpourri of performances from some 2018 AFRIMA nominees, past award winners, and special guest artistes.

Wrapping up the thrilling event programme is the 5th AFRIMA After-Party at the Pool Bar, Kempinski Hotel Gold Coast, Accra, Ghana.

Expressing her excitements at the coming events, Hon. Catherine Afeku said: “On behalf of His Excellency, the President of Ghana and the people of the Republic of Ghana, the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Ghana welcomes African artistes, African media and event delegates to the 5th All Africa Music Awards, AFRIMA-Ghana 2018. We take pride in ourselves in hosting this continental awards between November 21 and 24 which is consistent with our national development agenda to the growth of culture and the creative arts. We project a boost to the tourism economy of Ghana and the creation of opportunities for artists and investors in the culture and creative arts industry of Ghana. We expect more of such opportunities to be created in the national economy as we host AFRIMA events in the coming years. This will become one of the vehicles to deepen the collaboration between the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture and the Africa Union to drive the Government's transformation agenda. We look forward to welcoming you with the warm Ghanaian hospitality, Akwaaba!”

Also sharing his enthusiasm, AFRIMA Country Director for Ghana, Francis Doku, extolled the virtues of the Host Country saying: “We are very excited to be the host for the 5th AFRIMA, Ghana is a very beautiful country, and the most hospitable people on earth, and we want the whole of Africa and the rest of the world to come to see how we can also help developed the culture of Africa through music. It is also an opportunity to show the world what Ghana looks like, who we are, and the fact that we can also help to bring Africans together just as we did during the colonisation of Africa. He went further to implore the world to come to Ghana, enjoy the food, the weather and the people from 21st to 24th of November, 2018 when Africa and the world will meet in Accra for the 5th edition of the All Africa Music Awards. Welcome to Ghana.”

In partnership with the African Union Commission, AFRIMA seeks to reward Africa's music talents living on the continent or in the diaspora, it stimulates conversations among Africans and between Africa and the rest of the globe about the great potentials and values of the African musical and artistic heritage for the purpose of creating jobs, reducing poverty, calling the attention of world leaders to Africa and promoting the positive image of Africa to the world for global competitiveness.

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