Ghanaian hip-life sensation, Samuel Samini, a.k.a. Batman is in the UK for this year’s Music of Black Origin (MOBO) awards. Batman has been nominated in the ‘Best African Act’ category together with Tony Tetuila and P-Square from Nigeria, Lebo from South Africa, and Jose Chameleon, representing East Africa.
Batman got selected ahead of Ofori Amponsah, Obour, and Wutah to represent Ghana. He becomes the first Ghanaian ever to have been nominated for this award. He was selected to represent Ghana in the category when listeners of Joy FM were asked to vote for a representative after artistes in Ghana were short listed. After the collation of results, he shot ahead of the others to be Ghana’s only rep in the MOBO awards.
Batman says he got selected ahead of the others not because they are not good “but probably Ghanaians think my music is good enough for an award on an international platform.”
Excited and very expectant, Batman urged Ghanaians, especially his fans to keep voting for him to enable him eventually shoot ahead of the other African nominees to win the award.
“I encourage all my fans and everyone who loves my music to vote for me. This is just the beginning of bigger things to come and I hope to make a strong showing, not only at the award ceremony but also at the concert.” The award ceremony is tomorrow, September 20. This will be followed by a concert on Friday the 22nd.
Batman sees this as an opportunity to market Ghanaian music on an international platform. He is also very confident that this could be the break that might unearth many talents across the length and breadth of the African continent. He hopes that in future, more Ghanaian artistes get nominated for international honours and recognition.
Batman’s manager, Anthony Pun Baning is of the view that, among the short-listed African artistes, Batman is the best and the he could be a better representative for the continent. He thinks Batman’s ability to perform with a live band and his stage craft also played an immense role in listeners voting him over the others.
He adds that Batman is an international icon, “considering the fact that many people the world over can identify with his type of music….his current album has a little of hip-life, a little of dancehall and a little of reggae. These are songs people enjoy all over the world.” This year’s MOBO ceremony marks the 11th anniversary of award. Batman will be performing alongside artistes such as Jamelia and Lemar, and the hip-hop group Sway.
