The 2016 Grammy Award nominations for Best Reggae Album have been announced, with the winner crowned on February 15th.
The National Academy of Recording, Arts and Sciences made the nominee announcement. And, the nominees for the Best Reggae Album at the 2016 Grammy Awards are Branches of the Same Tree by Rocky Duwani, The Cure by Jah Cure, 
Acousticalevy by Barrington Levy, Zion Awake by Luciano and Strictly Roots by Morgan Heritage.
For the voting at the Grammy’s, final-round ballots are sent to voting members in good dues standing. The finalists determined by the special nominating committees are also included in this ballot. In this final round, Recording Academy members may vote in up to 20 categories in the genre fields plus the four categories of the General Field (Record Of The Year, Album Of The Year, Song Of The Year and Best New Artist.) Ballots again are tabulated by the independent accounting firm of Deloitte.
For Best Reggae Album at the Grammys, two of the five nominees were also selected as Album of the Year here at The Island Sound for the Best of 2015 series. Acousticalevy by Barrington Levy was awarded Album of the Year by The Island Sound, and Strictly Roots by Morgan Heritage was one of the five finalists, as well.
Four of the five nominees are Jamaican born artists, while Rocky Duwani, calls Ghana home. The Grammy for Best Reggae Album has long been a secluded fraternity, awarding Jamaican bands and artists. Steel Pulse became the first non-Jamaican band to win a Grammy for their 1986 album, Babylon The Bandit.
One surprise was the omission of Ancient Future, recorded by Protoje. Although, the Grammy’s have over 80 categories to fill out nominations, so one or two oversights can occur.
To find out who takes home the award for Best Reggae Album, tune into the Grammys on February 15, 2016 live from Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. The host of the evening will be LL Cool J. The 58th Grammy Award ceremony will be broadcast on CBS at 8 PM Eastern Standard Time.
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Video: Morgan Heritage – “Perform And Done”