The Recording Academy needs to review and redirect how they categorize non-Western musical practices and cultures. To start, more award categories could be introduced to reflect the diverse range of Black music across the world.
On November 15, 2022 the complete list of nominees for the 2023 Grammy awards was announced. The ‘Best Global Music Album’ and ‘Best Global Music Performance’ categories were filled with nominated artists who make a wide variety of music, which hardly intersect or interact with one another. The only discernible unifying factor is they were made by artists that are indigenes of non-western countries. This ‘othering’ continues to perpetuate harmful stereotypes that hinders creative progress outside the West.
Despite being worlds apart, Burna Boy’s afro-fusion album titled Love, Damini and the Indian Pop album titled Shuruaat by Berklee Indian Ensemble, were both nominated within the same ‘Best Global Music Album’ category...
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