5 big Ghanaian Artistes Bag Nominations at the 39th IRAWMA Awards
Shatta Wale, Stonebwoy, Sarkodie, Kwame Yeboah, DJ a switch all bag nominations at the 39th edition of the International Reggae and World Music Awards slated for May 2
Tanitoluwa J. Adedotun 
Five prominent Ghanaian artists have received nominations for the upcoming International Reggae and World Music Awards.
Shatta Wale, Stonebwoy, Sarkodie, Kwame Yeboah, and DJ Switch all bagged nominations in their respective domains.
Shatta Wale was nominated for the Best African Dancehall Entertainer and the Best Visual Entertainer while Stonebwoy and Sarkodie were nominated for the Best Dancehall Entertainer and the Best Virtual Concert of the Year categories respectively.
DJ Switch got the nod for the Best Young Entertainer and Kwame Yeboah for the Best Instrumentalist categories.
The awards ceremony will broadcast from Jamaica on Sunday, May 2.
The theme of this year’s show is ‘Reggae & World Music Still Rise’.
The announcement conference, which was held virtually was hosted by multi-IRAWMA winner Gramps Morgan.
Some other well-known artists who also picked up multiple nominations were Bounty Killer, Popcaan, and Koffee with six each, Skip Marley and Beenie Man with five each, along with Gramps Morgan and Tarrus Riley who copped four.
Fans can vote for their favourite artists and the full list of nominees has been published on www.irawma.com.
While sharing the news of the nominations, IRAWMA President Ephraim Martin congratulated the Not an Easy Road singer for his outstanding performance yet again, after he walked away with seven awards last year.
Martin spoke with the Jamaica Observer about the concept behind the virtual show this year and that organizers now have some experience as the format is being repeated from last year.
“This is the second time we are doing the show virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic and therefore every effort is being made to make it special."
"Over the past 12 months or so we have lost some truly outstanding stalwarts due to COVID and otherwise and we are going to have a special segment dedicated to these stalwarts, many of them were there from the start of reggae. So we will be saluting them this year,” he said.
“Having the ceremony virtually takes away the glitz and glamour of the red carpet and the direct audience participation. At the end of the day, it is not really about glitz and glamour, it is about recognising the hard work of the artists and making them feel appreciated. Can’t wait for next year which will be our 40th staging of IRAWMA. Hopefully, we will be together in person at that time,” he added.
