Songlines Music Awards 2016 Nominees - Includes Debashish Bhattacharya!

The wait is over - the nominees for this year's Songlines Music Awards have been announced in the most recent issue! We are also extremely proud to announce that our very own Debashish Bhattacharya (Riverboat Records) has been nominated for Best Album in his category for his stunning Slide Guitar Ragas From Dusk Till Dawn. This year the categories have been changed in order to match the regional groupings of the magazine's reviews section. The nominations are as follows:

BEST ARTIST 

• Lura (for the album Heranca on Lusafrica)
• Mariza (for the album Mundo on Warner Music) 
• Pascuala Ilabaca y Fauna (for the album Busco Paraiso on Petit Indie)
• Seckou Keita (for the album 22 Strings on ARC Music)

 

BEST GROUP 

• Africa Express (for the album Terry Riley's I n C Mali on Transgressive Records)
• Kapela Maliszow (for the album Inconceivable Mazurkas on Karrot Kommando)
• Khiyo (for the album Khiyo on ARC Music)
• Monsieur Doumani (for the album Sikoses on Monsieur Doumani)

 

AFRICA & MIDDLE EAST 

• Blick Bassy (for the album Ako on No Format!)
• Songhoy Blues (for the album Music in Exile on Transgressive Records)
• Seckou Keita (for the album 22 Strings on ARC Music)
• The Gurdjieff Ensemble (for the album Komitas on ECM Records)

 

AMERICAS 

• Punch Brothers (for the album The Phosphorescent Blues on Nonesuch Records) 
• Lila Downs (for the album Balas y Chocolate on Sony Music)
• Tom & Ben Paley (for the album Paley & Son on Hornbeam Recordings)
• Le Vent du Nord (for the album Tetu on Borealis Records)

 

EUROPE 

• Monsieur Doumani (for the album Sikoses on Monsieur Doumani)
• Sam Lee & Friends (for the album The Fade in Time on The Nest Collective Records)
• Spiro (for the album Welcome Joy and Welcome Sorrow on Real World)
• Tcha Limberger's Budapest Gypsy Orchestra (for the album Fekete Ejszaka Borulj a Vilagra on Lejazzetal)

 

ASIA & SOUTH PACIFIC 

• Paradise Bangkok Molam International Band (for the album 21st Century Molam on Studio Lam)
• Debashish Bhattacharya (for the album Slide Guitar Ragas from Dusk Till Dawn on Riverboat Records)
• Anoushka Shankar (for the album Home on Deutsche Grammophon)
• Frank Yamma (for the album Uncle on Wantok Musik)

 

FUSION 

• Faris (for the album Mississippi to Sahara on Wrasse Records)
• Ibeyi (for the album Ibeyi on XL)
• Ballake Sissoko & Vincent Segal (for the album Musique de Nuit on No Format!)
• Mahsa Vahdat (for the album Traces of an Old Vineyard on Kirkelig Kulturverksted)

The winners of these seven categories, as well as the Newcomer and World Pioneer Award, will be announced in the June 2016 issue of Songlines, #118, on sale in the UK from May 6. 

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 Nominees Compilation Album

  Selected tracks by all of the nominees in this year's awards are featured on this great compilation album available to buy on Amazon.

 

 

 

 Since 2008, the prestigious Songlines Music Awards has aimed to celebrate and showcase the myriad of musical talent from around the world. All of 2016's nominated artists have had albums reviewed in Songlines Magazine in 2015 and some will have been included in the publication's 'Top of the World' selection: making them eligible for the Best Artist and Best Group categories.

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Congratulations to Debashish and many thanks to those of you who voted for him back in January. The calibre of all the nominated artists is, of course, extremely high and so he faces some stiff competition but keep your fingers crossed in May. Watch this space!