22-year-old Cape Verdean singer Mayra Andrade has won a BBC Radio 3 World Music award in the category of Revelation Artist.

The Cape Verdean singer had been nominated for the album Navega, alongside Israeli-American band Balkan Beat Box, Malian group Bassekou Kouyaté & Ngoni Ba and guitarist/singer Vieux Farka Touré, also from Mali. Mayra was considered one of the favorites from the very beginning as, despite being better known in the French- and Portuguese-speaking world, she had been conquering an audience in the Anglophone musical milieu as well since last year.

The artist, who received the award Thursday night in a ceremony in London, expressed her joy at having been recognized through the award. Before being given the award, the young Cape Verdean singer performed two of the songs from her album.

Navega is the debut album by Mayra Andrade, whose star began to rise when she won the gold medal in the musical category at the Francophone Games in Ottawa, Canada at only 16 years of age. So far, the album has sold more than 10,000 copies.