Pan-African entertainment network, MTV Networks Africa, and international telecommunications giant, Zain, have joined forces to launch the MTV Africa Music Awards, a celebration of Africa's music talent. MTV's first ever awards ceremony for the African continent, the MTV Africa Music Awards honours the passion, creativity and artistry of the African music industry, showcasing the continent's brightest and best contemporary music and artists to a global audience.

The awards will provide a major promotional platform for the burgeoning African music industry, championing, supporting and empowering African talent by broadcasting their music around the world via MTV's global multimedia network focusing on contemporary African and international genres loved by the MTV audience in sub-Saharan Africa including hip-hop, hip life, R&B, rock, Afro pop, Afro beat, kwaito, bongo flava, dancehall, soul, rock and funk.

Commented Alex Okosi, senior vice president and managing director, MTV Networks Africa, "The MTV Africa Music Awards with Zain will create an unprecedented global platform for African musicians to shine and to spread the word about Africa's extraordinary music talent. We are very excited to partner with Zain to realise our vision of creating an MTV awards ceremony for the artists and music fans of the African continent."

The MTV Africa Music Awards will be preceded by four concerts celebrating the musicians nominated for the awards. The concerts, featuring international musicians and local nominees, will take place in Johannesburg (5 November), Nairobi (8 November), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (13 November) and Lagos (15 November).

The awards will broadcast around the world on MTV TV, online, mobile and radio platforms, including pan-African TV channel MTV base (DStv Channel 322 and GTV), MTV2 (USA) and African terrestrial TV channels STV and AIT (Nigeria), TBC (Tanzania) and TV3 (Ghana), and selected partner radio stations across the continent.

[13 Aug 2008 14:33]

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