Joshua Baraka has landed 3 AFRIMMA Award nominations

For the past nine years, the African Muzik Magazine Awards, commonly abbreviated as AFRIMMA have been rewarding and celebrating musical works, talents and creativity around the African continent and this year, it will mark 10 years since the awards were founded.

With this year’s edition slated to take place September 15 to 17 at Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Centre in Dallas, USA, the nominees were recently unveiled and voting is already going on at AFRIMMA’s official website.

Nominated artistes will tussle it out in 31 different categories, and Ugandan fast-rising singer, Joshua Baraka, is among this year’s nominees.

His Nana remix featuring Nigeria’s Joeboy, Ghana’s King Promise and Kenya’s Bien scooped not one but three nominations in three categories – Best Collaboration, Song Of The Year and Afrimma Video Of The Year.

Baraka will battle big names like Diamond Platnumz (Tanzania), Kcee (Nigeria), Fally Ipupa (DRC), Rema (Nigeria), Tiwa Savage (Nigeria) and Davido (Nigeria) in the three categories he was nominated.

On Wednesday, an excited Baraka took to his X account to break the news and also ask his fans to vote him so he can him bring the accolades home.

Born in 2000 and raised in Kawempe, Kazo (a Kampala suburb), Joshua Baraka is not only an RnB and Afro-Pop singer, but also a songwriter and instrumentalist. He started singing and production in 2018 after learning how to play a piano in 2016. He later recorded and released his 4-track debut extended play (EP) titled Baby Steps in July of 2021.

He followed the EP with more songs like Belinda, Sana feat. Merry Lynn, Omu feat. A Pass and Axom among a few others until he dropped another EP, this time a 5-track one titled Watershed in November of 2022.

In January 2023, he dropped what would be his breakthrough hit Nana which has since become a favorite for many, topping charts as well as attracting international singers Joeboy, King Promise and Bien to jump on its remix.

Landing 3 nods in the AFRIMMAs, considered Africa’s Grammys, is no mean feat for Baraka who is among the new crop of Ugandan singers (including Azawi) crafting a new sound. Many have said that with more such artistes, Ugandan music has a shot at penetrating the international audience.

Baraka isn’t the only Ugandan on this year’s AFRIMMA nominees list.

Others are Masaka Kids and Ghetto Kids (for Best African Dancer), 207 (Music Producer Of The Year), Azawi and Spice Diana (Best Female East Africa), Eddy Kenzo (Best Female East Africa )and James “Fat Boy” Onen for Best Radio/TV Personnel Of The Year.

Compared to other East African countries, Uganda which has 10 nods comes only second to Tanzania which has 18. Kenya and Rwanda have 9 nods and 1 nod respectively.

This year, Uganda’s nominations in these prestigious awards went up to 9 from 7 last year.