Angelique Kidjo with her Grammy in 2020
The Grammy Awards has announced that the Grammy Award for “Best World Music Album” has been renamed.
The award will now be called “Best Global Music Album”.
The award is presented annually to recording artists for quality albums in the world music genre. It has now been renamed to reflect a “more relevant, inclusive” term.
The Recording Academy said in a statement: “As we continue to embrace a truly global mindset, we update our language to reflect a more appropriate categorization that seeks to engage and celebrate the current scope of music from around the world.”
This is coming months after the Oscars renamed the international category “Best Foreign Language Film” to “Best International Feature Film”.
The Academy added: “Global Music will continue to provide a home for influential music from all parts of the globe yet bringing with it a fresh perspective fueled by authenticity, diversity, and direct inclusion into our process.”
The Grammy Awards introduced the category in 1991 and the first winner, in February 1992, was Mickey Hart’s Planet Drum.
Ry Cooder was the first two-time winner in the category; Ravi Shankar and Ladysmith Black Mambazo have also won twice in the category.
Angélique Kidjo is the only three-time winner in the category to date.