New York, NY (Top40 Charts/ Blue Pie Records) Nine years ago, Suzanna Lubrano won, the Kora Award for "Best African Artist" of the year. This year, the one billion inhabitants of the continent nominated for "Best Artist of West Africa" have the chance to win the grand prize of "Best African Artist" for the period of 2010-2012. Suzanna is up against five other nominees for this prize, including Senegalese Vivian N'Dour.
"Best Artist of West Africa" is one of the 24 regional categories within the award ceremony. Suzanna Lubrano is the only artist of Cape Verdean descent among the nominees, and the only one with a Dutch background. Nominees in other categories include Khaled, Magic System, D'Banj, Aster Aweke and Zahara. The Diaspora categories house names such as Beyonce, Rihanna, Nicki Minaj,
Chris Brown and
Tanya St. Val, who have all been nominated. Reason for Lubrano's nomination is both the strength of her catchy pop songs like "Pensa After Mi" and the latest single "Tardi Di Mas", as well as her performances, including the TV Concert "Live at Off- Corso ", which is broadcasted in five continents, as a production in collaboration with RTV Rijnmond.
Kora Awards, founded in 1994 by businessman Ernest Adjovi from Benin, is considered the most prestigious pan-African music award ceremony, partly because they take maximum account of the great cultural diversity on the African continent. Kora, for financial reasons, is organized annually, but is regarded as the African equivalent of the Grammy's. In earlier ceremonies, figures such as
Nelson Mandela,
Michael Jackson and Miriam Makeba have made an appearance. This year the awards ceremony will take place on December 29 in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, and will include an appearance by Chris Brown. The Kora Awards 2012 are about the years 2010 to 2012.
The nearly 37-year-old Suzanna Lubrano has a music career of seventeen years behind her. It is especially popular in Portuguese-speaking Africa, but also within the global Lambada/Zouk dance scene. Her latest release, 'Tardi Di Mas ", is a hit in many francophone countries and territories in Africa and the Caribbean. Besides the Kora Award 2003, the singer has won numerous other music awards, including the Museke Online African
Music Award 2010 for "Best African Artist in Diaspora" and the Cabo Verde
Music Award 2011 for "Best Zouk" of the year. Several of her albums, have also reached gold and platinum status in Southern Africa.
Be sure to visit Suzanna's official website for more information on her career at https://suzannalubrano.net/ or The Kora Awards at https://koraawards.org/