After Tyla took home the inaugural Grammy Award for Best African Music Performance, the president of South Africa shared a very heartfelt message expressing his admiration for her win.
The president said that he had gotten off a video call with the award winner, Tyla and wrote this message “My spirit was raised so much today as I spent time engaging with young people, including a video call with Tyla, our Grammy-winning performer and songwriter, who celebrated her 22nd birthday less than a week ago. I shared with her my pride and that of the nation at her achievement of the Grammy for Best African Music Performance. Well done again, Tyla”
He then continued, saying, “I recognised that while we have made progress, we need to – and will – do more to invest in our nation’s youth. One of the questions put to me concerned government support for the creative industries in our country. From our music and theatre stages to film sets, bookstores, art studios and galleries and heritage centres, the creations of South Africans inspire us to ensure that our Mzansi Golden Economy benefits creative South Africans and our broader economy.”
Tyla’s win has put into bigger perspective the need to positively improve the creative industries in South Africa. South Africa is set to go one-on-one with Nigeria at the semi-finals of AFCON 2023.