The All Africa Music Awards, AFRIMA, has appointed five African music professionals to the AFRIMA Academy of Jury .

The jury which now consists of  13-man Jury and the 100-man College of Voters is in line with the awards objective of an all-inclusive participation of African professionals in its decision–making body .

According to a press release from AFRIMA , the new appointees include: Mr. Charles Tabu, a citizen of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) who is a music executive, artiste development professional and the Chief Executive Officer of Jeericho Entertainment Ltd. Mr. Tabu fills one of the two slots for Central Africa on the AFRIMA Jury.

Cote d’Ivoire and Tanzania, both vibrant music markets in Africa, are also making their debut on the AFRIMA Jury through the appointment of David Tayorault and Joett respectively. Mr. Tayorault started off his music career as a successful artiste before moving into music production and scoring huge hits with talents such as Magic System and Bisso Na Bisso.

Tayorault, through his country, occupies the AFRIMA Jury slot for Western Africa. Similarly, Joett, a well-known songwriter and vocal coach in Tanzania will take up one of the Jury slots for Eastern Africa by replacing Uganda.

Mr. Olisa Adibua from Nigeria, is the fourth Juror joining the team and representing Western Africa. Mr. Adibua is a veteran media and music practitioner bringing on board the jury his wealth of experience in music and industry practice on reformed continental and international platforms.

In addition, Ms. Hadja Kobele, a US-based Guinean music professional who is the Head of Public Relations and Special Projects at Universal Music Africa/Island Africa, has been appointed the AFRIMA Juror representing the Diaspora (North America).

Announcing the new appointees on behalf of the International Committee of AFRIMA, the Associate Producer, AFRIMA, Ms. Adenrele Niyi, revealed the restructuring of the AFRIMA Academy of Voters was transparent in adherence to AFRIMA values of FACE IT(Fairness, Authenticity, Credibility Excellence, Integrity and Transparency.

“The selection of the new members of the AFRIMA Jury was carried out through consultations with AFRIMA Regional Directors and partners globally to ensure that the new members are qualified professionals who care deeply about Africa, and want to be pushers of change on the continent”.

Ms. Niyi added, “There is a necessity to this restructuring initiative to allow us advance our transformation strategy and adhere to the leadership rotational structure in line with the AFRIMA objective of all-inclusive participation of professional Africans in the decision–making body of AFRIMA”.

The AFRIMA Jury is made of 13 members; two persons from each region in Africa; a representative each of the African Diaspora in Europe and North America respectively and a representative of the African Union Commission.

In partnership with the African Union, the All Africa Music Awards is a music property that recognises, awards, promotes and preserves Africa’s rich music culture. AFRIMA is centred on the promotion and marketing of African music and is by far the largest gathering of such magnitude of stakeholders in Africa. It is scheduled to hold  between November 9and November12 and it will be broadcast to over 80 countries around the world.