Northern Irish Music Awards
Posted on November 9th, 2011 by folkandtumble
Wednesday 2nd November marked a return for the Northern Irish Music Awards. In previous years organisations such as the Oh Yeah Music Centre have hosted little ceremonies to honour newcomers on the Northern Irish music scene throught their ‘Contenders’ programme and also to pay homage to legends of days gone by like Terri Hooley and The Undertones but this year saw things get a little glitzier, a lot bigger and more like the swaggering juggernaut that every good awards show should be.
Northern Ireland loves a little self deprecation and in the weeks leading up to the show there have been cries of foul play regarding the naming of the awards. Some feel that they’re too skewed towards the indie genre and should be named after AU Magazine or the Oh Yeah Music Centre who are the driving forces behind them, while others agree that there is a lot of mis-representation from other genres such as urban, metal, punk and dare we say it… folk!
We’ll look at the potential lack of folk a little later but for just one night in a briskly cold city it was great to don a shirt and tie and celebrate all that’s good in local talent. MTV were in town for the European Music Awards at the end of the week and this was Northern Ireland’s chance to show them what we’re made of.
Best Northern Ireland Solo Artist - Robyn G Shiels
The stage of the Ulster Hall looked great and there were thundering live performances from And So I Watch You From Afar, Cashier No. 9, Japanese Popstars, Wonder Villains and the newly crowned legends Stiff Little Fingers amongst others. There were lots of smiles and backslapping as local industry movers and shakers congratulated themselves on a fantastic night of entertainment to end what has been a great year for local music. Amongst the recipients were Two Door Cinema Club (Best Band), And So I Watch You From Afar (Best Live Act), Wonder Villains (Best Newcomers), Stiff Little Fingers (Legends) and Space Dimension Controller who picked up a gong for best electronic act.
Yes that’s right, there was a dedicated award for electronic music and yet no mention of country, roots, blues, folk or any of the genres that have long shaped the culture and musical heritage of Ireland as a whole and indeed those which many believe to have been exported to the New World sparking a boom in what would later become Americana and American Country Music.
Former ASIWYFA guitarist Tony Wright who now fronts his own acoustic outfit called Verse Chorus Verse gives a shout out from the stage to all those on the folk scene.
This performance is dedicated to all those playing trad, country, folk and blues!
Of course the organisers of the ceremony have stated that there has been no favouritism towards indie, rock or electronic music and that everyone producing music in Northern Ireland was eligable for an award if chosen by the panel of judges chosen from across the industry.
AU Magazine’s Jonny Tiernan chose to answer critics on Fastfude.
Regarding including more categories, we didn’t want to go down the road of having too many awards. There are many other categories for various awards that we could have included too, but we felt ten is a good number to be going with this year.
You could also argue that the categories you have listed are still quite niche, with not necessarily that many potential nominations in each category. It doesn’t really make sense to create a Blues category simply because Simon McBride deserves to win it. I’m not saying he doesn’t, but in my personal opinion there would need to be a big scene in each area to warrant making these separate categories.
Once the backbiting and reverb died down, my ears gradually recovered from Japanese Popstars raucous performance and I had a chance to reflect on the new folk input to the night. In particular the Oh Yeah Contenders award mooted nominations for Sons of Caliber, Aaron Shanley, The 1930s and Southern. The Glasgowbury music festival collected an award for best festival which was fitting recognition for Paddy Glasgow who has always welcomed those from the more acoustic genres to his festival and well attended G-Sessions nights in Draperstown.
One of the biggest winners were Cashier No. 9 who offer a unique brand of sometimes electronic, sometimes pop but always with an underlying current of folk music. They’ve rightfuly been signed to the Bella Union label in the last twelve months and despite a stroppy fit thrown mid performance they still walked off home with a brace of awards for best video and best album. A more surprising victor on the night was Robyn G Shiels who is often seen as the grumpy old man of Northern Irish alternative folk. It can’t be denied that he’s written a great haul of dark brooding folk but there were a few surprised faces as he leapt ahead of Foy Vance and Duke Special as best Northern Irish solo act. He seemed genuinely pleased to be there and to have a little recognition and we’re all equally pleased for him.
And so it was off to an after-party with the indie kids where there was free beer, skinny jeans and more big hair than you’d find in Frankie Cocozza’s plughole. Your friendly Folk & Tumble team had a little unashamed boogie to Dee-Lite’s ‘Groove is in the Heart’ and reflected on what turned out to be a fairly decent bit of recognition for the acoustic troubadours of the country.
So for all those in folk, country, blues, rockabilly or indeed the punks, DJs, metallers and rappers… remember there are two types of music, good and bad!
Keep it good and if you want your name up on lights over here keep it folk!