The first ever MTV Africa Music Awards is set to stamp an Afrocentric flavour on the ceremony.
Organisers of the MTV Africa Music Awards with Zain have revealed that the show will feature a tribute to the late, legendary Afrobeat artist Fela Anikulapo Kuti by his youngest son, Seun, and his daughter, Yeni.
Kuti will turn in a performance of his father’s seminal track “Army Arrangement,” supported by Fela’s own legendary backing band, Egypt 80.
The MAMAs – as these awards have been dubbed – take place at the Velodrome in the Nigerian city of Abuja on Nov. 22. The list of nominees in ten categories is dominated by South Africa with 18 individual nominations and host country, Nigeria, with 16.
Other performances on the night will come from South African R&B and hip-hop act Jozi, who will collaborate with Nigerian R&B duo P Square. Kelly Rowland is set to duet with Nigerian singer and songwriter D’Banj.
Miami hip hop star Flo Rida will perform a medley of his biggest hits including “Low” and “In the Ayer” (Atlantic). A four-way collaboration between South African rockers Cassette, Kenyan hip-hop king Jua Cali and Nigerian stars Naeto C and Ikechukwu is also planned.
U.S, rapper The Game, who has been performing at several Road To Mamas shows around the continent, is another live performer.
The guest presenters include many nominees including South African dance acts DJ Cleo and Goldfish, Mozambican hip-hop star Dama do Bling, and the East Africa act Bashment Crew.
DJ Kofi will be on the spot as the resident DJ for the show, which is presented by U.K. BBC Radio 1 DJ Trevor Nelson.
The show broadcasts on MTV base on South African based, pan-Africa satellite platform DSTV as well partner networks and terrestrial channels STV (Nigeria), AIT (Nigeria), NTV (Kenya), WBS (Uganda), TV3 (Ghana), TBC (Tanzania) and RTGA (Democratic Republic of the Congo) from Nov. 29.
