Kora Awards get permanent Namibian residency

Namibia is increasingly becoming the destination of choice to host international events and has now been selected as the permanent host country of Africa’s premier awards show, the Kora All-Africa Music Awards. This was confirmed by the event’s founder and executive producer, Benin-born Ernest Coovi Adjovi, and Namibia’s Minister of Environment and Tourism, Pohamba Shifeta. Founded in 1994, the Kora Awards are comparable to America’s Grammys. Speaking at the official launch at the Windhoek Country Club, Adjovi said it is a little known fact that Namibia’s current president, Hage Geingob, had actually helped him to conceive the idea of the awards. This is why the theme this year is ‘Back Home’. The awards are named after the Kora, a West African plucked chordophone. Organisers said the event will be broadcast to 700 million people globally when it takes place in December. Shifeta said Namibia is set to benefit from global advertising that would have otherwise cost the country millions. “It’s not just the fact that millions of people will be watching the live show, but the next four months will see the country get lots of publicity when the show gets advertised, so our tourism industry is already going to benefit from that,” he said. Shifeta said his ministry often doesn’t have the money to promote Namibia on that scale, and the Kora Awards should therefore be welcomed by all Namibians. Shifeta said it had been agreed that Namibia will be the permanent home of the annual awards show. Asked whether the Tourism Ministry will have to fork out money on the event, Shifeta said that the show doesn’t require any sponsorship from the Namibian government. “We will take care of the dignitaries and former Heads of State that will come to attend the show, as that is normal protocol to do so, but the event itself isn’t of such a nature that it requires sponsorship,” he said. Shifeta explained that it’s not only the tourism industry that stands to benefit from the awards show being hosted here. “The benefits are really general. Hundreds of people will flock to Namibia. There are great economic benefits,” he said. The event has in the past been hosted by South Africa, Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso. “Throughout, it has maintained its status as an incredible marketing platform for African talent, and fertile ground for collaborations and partnerships among African artists. Boasting a live viewership of over 700 million in more than 54 countries worldwide, there is little doubt that the Kora Awards represent a meaningful game-changer in a participating artist’s life and career,” Adjovi said. Shifeta said that Namibia recently had the distinction of climbing 21 places in the World Economic Forum’s Tourism Competitive Index. “We are officially among the top five destinations in sub-Saharan Africa. We have no doubt that the collaboration in an event of the stature of the Kora Awards will have a meaningful and sustained impact on tourism to Namibia, and we are excited about the possibilities that this partnership offers,” he said. Awards organisers will build a venue dome, which will be dismantled after the show annually. Dignitaries and celebrities from Africa, and those in the Diaspora are all expected to flock to Namibia on the weekend of December 13. WINDHOEK GORDON JOSEPH