EMMANUEL ANDREWS SAMINI was born in Accra, Ghana, West Africa with his parents hailing from the northern town of Wa in Ghana‟s Upper West region. As arecording and performing artist, he initially adopted the stage name BATMAN (Best of All Times MAN) but reverted to his last name SAMINI in 2006.
Samini is Ghana‟s most prolific and versatile contemporary musician. His smooth mix of musical genres is a melodious interface of Ghanaian Highlife, Jamaican Dancehall and Reggae as well as American Hip-Hop and R&B. He dubs his multigenre world music presentation, African Dancehall!
Samini‟s introduction to music was through his church choir. At age 18, Samini collaborated with renowned Ghanaian Highlife musician Mary Agyapong on a single released in 2001. After 3 years of collaborating with various accomplished Ghanaian musicians, Samini released his maiden solo album Dankwasere in 2004, which topped the music charts in Ghana...
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EMMANUEL ANDREWS SAMINI was born in Accra, Ghana, West Africa with his parents hailing from the northern town of Wa in Ghana‟s Upper West region. As arecording and performing artist, he initially adopted the stage name BATMAN (Best of All Times MAN) but reverted to his last name SAMINI in 2006.
Samini is Ghana‟s most prolific and versatile contemporary musician. His smooth mix of musical genres is a melodious interface of Ghanaian Highlife, Jamaican Dancehall and Reggae as well as American Hip-Hop and R&B. He dubs his multigenre world music presentation, African Dancehall!
Samini‟s introduction to music was through his church choir. At age 18, Samini collaborated with renowned Ghanaian Highlife musician Mary Agyapong on a single released in 2001. After 3 years of collaborating with various accomplished Ghanaian musicians, Samini released his maiden solo album Dankwasere in 2004, which topped the music charts in Ghana for several months. He won Best New Artist and Hiplife Artist of the Year awards at the 2005 Ghana Music Awards (GMA.)
For his self-titled sophomore album, Samini, released in 2006, he won four awards at the 2007 GMA. Samini received international recognition as the Best African Musical Act at the 2006Music Of Black Origin (MOBO) Awards in the U.K. Also in 2006, he was nominated for MTV‟s Europe Music Awards (EMA) in Germany,Channel “O” Awards in South Africa, and the Radiophonie Prize in France. Samini won the Best African Artist Award at the Hip-Hop World Awards in Nigeria.
In 2008, Samini was nominated for Best Live Performer at the inaugural MTV Africa Music Awards (MAMA) and for Best Artist from West Africa at the KORA Awards, also known as Africa‟s Grammys. In 2009, he released his third album Dagaati (“Know Your Roots”),which included collaborations with international artists Etana (Jamaica), Steel Pulse (Jamaica), Sway (U.K.), and Nameless, and toured worldwide with live performances at the 2009 Afrofest and Caribana festivals in Toronto, Canada.
In 2010, Samini released his fourth solo album C. E. O. (Crucial Entertainment Outlaw) which won Album of the Year award at the 2010 GMA. He also won the Best African Entertainer award at the 2010 International Reggae & World Music Awards (IRAWMA) in New York. In 2011, he won the Channel “O” Best African Reggae Dancehall Artist award in South Africa. He recently released his fifth solo album titled Next Page.
Three of his latest songs, “Body Flame” featuring Kaakie ,
“Time Bomb” featuring Wizkid, and „Masters‟ are receiving mainstream commercial radio and video airplay across the world. Samini has shared the stage performing alongside world-renown artists such as Sean Paul, Game, Akon, Kelvin Little, Wayne Wonder, Shaggy, Ja-Rule, Damien Marley, Bennie Man, Jay-Z, Chaka Demus and Pliers, Culture, Steel Pulse, Mavado, Etana, Busy Signal, 2Face, PopCaan and Rita Marley in Ghana, U.K., Nigeria, Germany, Italy, Canada, U.S., Holland, and at the 2010 World Cup Soccer Fiesta in South Africa. Samini was selected by African telecommunications giant MTN as a spokesperson and the wholesome, family-friendly personality on its phone cards and billboards across Ghana, a country of more than 25 million people!
Samini recognizes the importance of using his talent and positive public profile to carry messages of togetherness, love, peace, development, and hope across the African continent and beyond. The United Nations Children‟s Fund, UNICEF, in Ghana selected Samini to perform the song “Clean Water” alongside Ghanaian musician Rocky Dawuni to promote good sanitation and hygiene. Samini was also selected as “Ambassador for Children” by the largest philanthropic agency in Ghana, Plan Ghana.
Furthermore, the British Council in Ghana selected Samini as an advocate for its programme Debate to Action (DTA), a capacity-building programme aimed at young leaders of youth organizations. Samini‟s role in the DTA programme is to use his strong positive personality and profile across Ghana to assist in projecting the DTA‟s agenda and help in encouraging discussions about issues concerning the youth.
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