Trace Announces Trace Awards & Festival, Celebrating African Music and Culture in Kigali

Trace, a globally recognized authority in music and a leading tastemaker for Afro-music, has announced the mega launch of the inaugural Trace Awards & Festival in a colourful event that will see Trace mark its 20th anniversary in history.

This highly anticipated event is set to celebrate the exceptional creative talent and cultural impact of African and Afro-inspired music. It shall be a ‘don’t miss it’ event, scheduled to reign over the atmosphere in Kigali, Rwanda from Friday, October 20 to Saturday, October 21, 2023.

Via a press release dating June 1, 2023, Trace has announced that the long awaited festival will kick off with a two-day cultural extravaganza, followed by a three-hour live televised music ceremony at Kigali’s esteemed BK Arena, East Africa’s largest indoor venue.

While collaborating with Visit Rwanda together with QA Venue Solutions Rwanda, this year’s Trace Awards & Festival event is set to champion the message of empowering musicians, creators, and entrepreneurs from Africa and the African diaspora.

“The awards will recognize a broad range of music genres from Afrobeat to Dancehall, Afro-pop, Mbalax, Amapiano, Zouk, Kizomba, Genge, Bongo Flava, Soukous, Gospel, Rap…” Read in part of the press release.

Recognizing the scheduled event, Olivier Laouchez, co-founder and Executive Chairman of Trace, added that Trace Awards is the only best way to celebrate achievements of Trace including promoting and showcasing the diversity and power of Afro-urban culture.

“There is no better way to celebrate our milestone twentieth birthday with this exciting new music and cultural franchise. The Trace Awards is our way of celebrating the artistry, vision and impact of musicians and other leaders in the urban cultural landscape with an out-of-this world ceremony that highlights and rewards their success and influence both in Africa and on the world stage.” Read in his sentiments, as highlighted on the press release.

The Rwanda Convention Bureau Chief Executive Officer, Janet Karemera, showed absolute joy promising support to this event that she described as promoting cultural tourism.

She commented:

“In addition, hosting the event in Rwanda will be a great platform for our growing creative industry to showcase its diverse creativity, talent and rich Rwandan cultural heritage.”

Trace Awards will broadcast live on Trace channels in more than 180 countries around the world, including broadcasting on Trace terrestrial TV partners and satellite channels around the world.

One is entitled to access further information concerning the upcoming event through https://trace.tv