The American Recording Academy’s Grammy Awards are always a spectacular occasion of pomp and pageantry and yesterday’s awards, the 50th, held at Los Angeles’ Staples Centre was no different, with performances from the ever-green Tina Turner, the bootylicious Beyonce and the svelte new girl on the block Rhianna.

As the awards have grown so has the remit, with the awards now acknowledging the contributions of artistes’ outside of the Western mainstream and this year saw the Academy bestowing honours on two of Africa’s finest contemporary musicians, Angelique Kidjo and the Soweto Gospel Choir .

Angeliue Kidjo the Benin Republic born Afro-pop princess had previously been nominated on four previous occassions; Best Music Video (1995) and Best World Music (1999, 2003, 2005). Yesterday she finally got the ultimate accolade winning the Grammy award for her album 'Djin Djin' in the 'Best Contemporary World Music Album category'.

For the Soweto Gospel Choir it was their second Grammy win. Last year the vocal ensemble won in the 'Best Traditional World Music' category for their Album ‘Blessed’ were again winners in the same category this time for their album 'African Spirit'.

Another winner with African connections was Democratic nominee hopeful Barak Obama, son of a Kenyan born Economist, who won a Grammy in the 'Best Spoken Word Album' category for his speech 'The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream' interestingly beating Bill Clinton who was also a nominee for this award

Other winners at the ceremony included British Singer Amy Winehouse, Justin Timberlake, the Foo Fighters, Kanye West and Bruce Springsteen.