Songlines Music Awards 2018
The Songlines Music Awards are ten years old this year and to celebrate, Songlines, in association with Soundcrash Music, hosted its inaugural Songlines Music Awards ceremony on October 20 at London’s Electric Brixton. Hosted by Cerys Matthews and sponsored by Colombia Travel, audiences were treated to performances by Vieux Farka Touré, Mokoomba, Black String, Warsaw Village Band, Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino and Maya Youssef.
Angélique Kidjo was presented with the World Pioneer award and after her surprise solo set was joined on stage for a finalé with Fatoumata Diawara, singing Miriam Makeba’s classic ‘Kilimanjaro’.
Fatoumata also presented Syrian-born qanun virtuoso Maya Youssef with the Newcomer award, which was sponsored by Incorporated Society of Musicians. Other guest presenters included Jon Snow, Benjamin Zephaniah, Justin Adams and Lopa Kothari, with Peter Gabriel having sent a congratulatory video message to Angélique.
The other category winners announced on the night were Oumou Sangaré for Best Artist and Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino for Best Group. The awards ceremony was followed by an aftershow party with a DJ set from Quantic (aka Will Holland).
Check out the videos of the live performances from the ceremony.
The Awards album
Featuring 20 tracks from all of the nominees in the five geographical categories, the Songlines Music Awards 2018 compilation is out now on CD. Buy from Amazon here: www.amazon.co.uk
Podcast
Simon Broughton and Jo Frost introduce this year's winners and play music from the winning albums on the Songlines podcast:
