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Press Releases
Bassekou Kouyate wins Radio 3 Awards for World Music Album of the
Year 2007
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Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba's debut album Segu Blue was awarded the 91Èȱ¬ Radio 3 Awards for World Music Album of the Year 2007 on Radio 3's
World Routes.
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After stepping out of the shadow of the late Ali Farka Touré to form his
own ngoni (a four-stringed African lute) quartet, Ngoni Ba, Bassekou's
brand of deep Malian blues has gathered widespread acclaim and a host of
high-profile endorsements, including Taj Mahal, Damon Albarn and Fatboy
Slim.
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Segu Blue celebrates the music of Ségou, Bassekou's home region on
the River Niger in Mali and features the vocals of his wife, Ami Sacko.
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The award is decided by a panel of experts assembled by fRoots magazine.
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Ian Anderson, Editor of fRoots, says: "It's a great pleasure to see this
year's top placing go to the debut album by the master of an instrument,
the ngoni, most western music fans barely know.
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"What's more it has been
released by a relatively new independent label who have got this
deserved success by hard work and attention to detail. Congratulations
all round."
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Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba will be appearing on Later... With Jools
Holland on 91Èȱ¬ Two on Friday 7 December.
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They are also nominated in two categories in the Radio 3 Awards for
World Music, the Africa and Newcomer categories.
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The nominees for eight
of the 11 categories were announced at WOMEX (World Music trade
fair) in Seville in October.
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Full details of all the nominees can be
found at bbc.co.uk/radio3/worldmusic.
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The winning artists will be announced on 17 April 2008 at a winners'
ceremony in London to be broadcast on Radio 3 the following evening.
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Voting for the Radio 3 Audience Award, decided by Radio 3 listeners,
also opens on 17 April.
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The Poll Winners' Concert will be held later
in the summer.
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All 28 nominees in this year's Radio 3 Awards for World Music will
be profiled on the network in four special programmes, Awards For World
Music A-Z, broadcast on the first Monday of the month from Monday 7
January at 11.15pm.
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Presented by Lucy Duran, the first programme of the
series profiles Andy Palacio and the Garifuna Collective (Belize);
Anoushka Shankar (India); Bajofondo (Argentina); Balkan Beat Box (USA/Israel); Bassekou Kouyate (Mali); Bole 2 Harlem (Ethiopia/USA); and
Faiz Ali Faiz (Pakistan).
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World Routes broadcasts every Saturday at 3pm, and is available to
listen again for seven days after transmission.
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The
Album of the Year programme was
broadcast on Saturday 1 December.
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Notes to Editors
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The awards are a unique collaboration between 91Èȱ¬ Radio 3, WOMEX, fRoots,
Songlines, the Rough Guides and Serious, and the aim is to provide a
showcase for the very best in world music.
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Twenty-eight of the 36 nominations for the Awards for World
Music are voted for by the delegates to WOMEX, the World Music Expo.
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The
2,000 delegates at the annual event each have a vote in all of the
awards categories, except for the Album of the Year and the Audience
Award. Artists are voted for because of an outstanding album or live
work during the past year.
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The Album of the Year is voted on by a panel of critics assembled by
fRoots magazine.
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The Audience Award is chosen by the general public, who
vote from the overall nominations list.
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In addition, music specialists at the 91Èȱ¬ World Service choose one
nomination in the geographical categories Africa, Americas, Middle East & North Africa and Asia-Pacific.
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All of the nominations are then reviewed by the Awards for World Music
Jury (details at bbc.co.uk/radio3) who choose
the winning acts.
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DL
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