Native American Music Awards

The Native American Music Awards (also known as the NAMAs or "Nammys") are an awards program presented annually by Elbel Productions, Inc., The Native American Music Awards Inc., and The Native American Music Association, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization incorporated in 1998, which recognizes outstanding musical achievement in styles associated with Native Americans, predominantly in the United States and Canada. While Native American performers in a variety of genres are also recognized, nominees do not have to be Native American themselves. The awards were created in 1998 to offer Native American musicians greater recognition from the American music industry and to create opportunities for international exposure and recognition.

Founded by music industry executive, Ellen Bello, The Annual Native American Music Awards is the largest membership-based organization for Native American music initiatives and consists of over 20,000 registered voting members and professionals in the field. They also hold the largest Native American music library in the world with a national archive featuring a collection of over 10,000 audio and video recordings in all formats housed since 1990.

The awards show honors national recordings released in the previous calendar year that encompass traditional and contemporary Native American music instrumentation and/or lyrics. Traditional music through history has been an integral part of Native American life and tribal identity, for example: pow wow music, round dance songs, and Native American flute music. Contemporary Native American music has grown to encompass many popular genres (for example: rock, pop, blues, hip hop, and country), as well as uniquely distinctive genres including Waila (or Chicken scratch) and Native American Church music. There is also a "Native Heart category" (an award given specifically to non-native artists in the field.

Nominees are submitted and selected by a national advisory membership, consisting of individuals who pay to join the organization. Winners are selected by a combined vote by the national membership and the general public, who can listen to and vote on nominees' tracks on the Native American Music Awards website.

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