In the wake of his controversial marriage to two different Ghanaian ladies (Christy and Mercy) based in Canada and UK respectively, Ghanaian Afro Reggae Super Star Samini has managed to grab a nomination as the only artiste from Ghana for an International award in New York.

The multiple Ghana Music Awards winner has been nominated in the Best African Entertainer category in this year’s edition of the International Reggae and World Music Awards (IRWMA). Samini was nominated alongside D’banj (Nigeria), Femi Kuti (Nigeria), Amadou and Mariam (Mali) and 2Face Idibia (Nigeria). Alpha Blondy won last year’s award as the Best African Entertainer.

Speaking to peacefmonline.com exclusively, from his current UK base, Samini said his manger Anthony Pun Daning called him from Ghana on Sunday morning, to inform him that he had been nominated. Asked how he feels about his nomination, Samini said “I feel very great. It feels good to realize that the world actually recognizes what I do and wants to reward me for my hard work.

I am also glad because International awards like this one, help me to improve on my subsequent albums to be able to meet the world music market. He added that he is proud to be nominated for an award which has awarded some of the greatest entertainers in the world. Samini said, he stands a very good chance of winning the award over his other African colleagues in the same category.

This was when he was asked what he thought his chances were. “I believe I can win this award but not without the support of my fans in Ghana and all over the world. I hope my fans will take me there, like they always do. This is for me and them and for the whole of Ghana. I will always fly the flag of Ghana high everywhere I go”, he stated.

To vote for Samini to win this, you have to log on to www.irawma.com, click on nominees/vote, look for the Best African Entertainer category, and vote for Samini. The 29th edition of the International Reggae and World Music Awards is scheduled to take place on Sunday, 2nd May 2010, at the York College Performance Arts Center in New York. International Reggae artistes performing on the night include Julian Marley, Machel Montano, Tony Rebel, Queen Ifrica, Gramps Morgan, Dean Frazer and many more.

The “International Reggae and World Music Awards” was founded by Ephraim M. Martin an entertainment entrepreneur, publisher and TV personality in 1982 to acknowledge and honor accomplishment and contribution of International Reggae and International world music artistes.

Samini won two awards: Hiplife artiste of the year and New hiplife artiste of the year, with his maiden “Dankwansre” album, won the Best African Arts at 2006 edition of “Music of Black Origin (MOBO)” in London and went ahead to win three awards in the 2007 Ghana Music Awards with his second album titled “Samini”.

He won the African artistes of the year in 2008 at the Hip Hop World Awards held in Nigeria and won the Best African Performer during last year’s second edition of the MTV Africa Music Awards (MAMA) held in Kenya. He was also nominated for MTV EMA Awards in Germany, Channel ‘O’ Music Video Awards in South Africa and the Radiophonie Prize in France.

Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana