BBC - Radio 3 - Awards for World Music 2005

JURY PROFILES

Ben Mandelson

Ben Mandelson is a freelance record producer who has worked in all areas of world music. He is co-founder and A & R Manager / house producer for the 'GlobeStyle Records' label which has almost 100 releases to date from all over the world. And that's just one of a multitude of companies that benefit from his production talents. Ben has on-site recording experience in Africa, the Balkans and beyond. He was Director of WOMEX 1994-1997. His current musical activity 'on the other side of the glass' is as member of Billy Bragg's fabulous orchestra, "The Blokes".

Charlie Gillett

Charlie Gillett is a pioneer of world music, having provided first UK airplay on his radio show for a host of African and Caribbean artists, among them Youssou N'Dour, Arrow and Salif Keita, in a broadcasting career that spans thirty years. Author of The Sound of the City (first published in 1970; third edition 1996), Charlie began his broadcasting career on BBC Radio London in March 1972. He moved to Capital Radio where he worked from 1980 to 1990. Since 1995, he's presented Saturday Night on BBC London Live where he has been host to all the main figures of world music in Britain as well as visitors including David Byrne, Taj Mahal and Dan Storper from USA , Francis Falceto (France) and Stan Rijven (Holland). Charlie was Sony broadcaster of the Year in 1991 and compiled the CD sets, World 2000 (Hemisphere) and World 2001 (Virgin). He is also co-director of the Oval record label and publishing company, whose 'Would You...?' by Touch and Go was a worldwide hit, 1998-1999.

Eric Soul

Rwandan by birth, Belgian by upbringing, British by residence and global by choice, Eric Soul is currently stirring up a fire on London's dance and lounge circuit with his blazing mÃ©lange of hip hop, soul and an array of global urban sounds. Several years on Belgium's club circuit established Eric firmly as one of the most original DJs on the scene. Drawn to London by the forceful pull of the drum'n'bass wave in the mid 90s, Eric soon became known as a DJ who played a selection of styles that was as eclectic as it was compelling. In order to broaden the mix further, he founded the seminal DJ collective 'Groov'n'Bass Movement' in 1997. In 2000, he provided the surrounding soundscapes to the Paris and London parts of Keziah Jones' tour. From 2001 onwards, Eric's artful mix-ology became a dependable part of London's biggest multicultural celebration, the annual Respect Festival. It was this event that led in 2001 to his first opportunity to spread his musical vision on CD. He compiled the RAW mix-album for the T&G workers union - a record of innovative global music that received high acclaim from world music connoisseurs such as Charlie Gillett. At the moment, Eric is devoting his energies to the promotion of popular African culture via his brand new Afrogroov clubnight - an event featuring live MCs, Fula flute and percussion over Eric's mixes that are deeply rooted in the spine-tingling alchemy of hip hop and musical gems from Africa and beyond.

Jamie Renton

Jamie Renton is a freelance music journalist who writes about a broad range of global musical styles (African, Latin American, Asian, Blues, Jazz, Reggae etc etc). He started writing in 1997 when he acquired a family and a mortgage and needed to find a way to feed his musical addiction. He is now a regular contributor to fRoots and Straight No Chaser and has also written for Songlines, The Beat and The Encyclopaedia of Popular Music, as well as providing sleevenotes for albums on the Luaka Bop and Nascente labels. Jamie lives in East London with his family, his mortgage and his (still raging) musical addiction.

Jan Fairley

Jan Fairley is a freelance who has sung since the age of four (the gamut from Gilbert and Sullivan, Bach, Opera to musicals, acapella and sacred). With a first degree in Literature and Languages she first got into music writing through meeting members of the 'new song' movement when teaching in Chile between 1971-3. She returned to do an M.Phil in Latin American Studies at Oxford and then a PhD in Ethnomusicology at Edinburgh on Chilean exile musicians and has researched extensively in Latin America and Spain since the 1970s particularly with political singer-songwriters and in flamenco. From the late 1980s she has worked as an editor notably for CUP's Popular Music journal and The New Grove Dictionary. In her guise as a music writer and critic she contributed chapters to The Rough Guide to World Music, has written for fRoots since the mid-1980s (today aka Christine Charter) and Songlines since the first edition. She has made cultural documentaries for BBC World Service, notably on Finland in the early 1990s and the 12 part world music series 'Ports of Call'. She pioneered world music on BBC Radio Scotland with Earthbeat in the early 1990s and has made many music/cultural series and documentaries for BBC R3, R4 and World Service. She writes on world music for various outlets including Scottish newspapers and has recently completed a book chapter on Music in Cuba in the 1990s. As well as compiling various discs she has written liner notes, tour managed and club DJ-ed since the 1980s.

Lucy Duran

Lucy Duran, presenter of BBC Radio 3's "World Routes", is an ethnomusicologist and lecturer in music at the School of Oriental and African Studies. She was born in New York into a musical family and lived also in Chile and Greece where her early years were filled with folk music. Though she specialised in Indian and Greek music, the music of West Africa and Cuba became the focus of her research after hearing a recording of the kora. She studied with a kora maestro in the Gambia and has worked with musicians like Youssou N'Dour, Ali Farka Toure and Mory Kante. In the eighties Lucy presented Radio 4's "Kaleidoscope" as well as many location features including "Talking Drum" and "Latins in the USA" (Sony silver award, 1994). She spent long periods in Mali researching the music and has produced several albums of kora music including Songhai 2 (NAIRD award-winner 1994) and Kulanjan (Folk Roots album-of-the-year, 1999). She received the Andy Kershaw Radio 2 Folk Award 2000.Since 1992, Lucy has been a full-time lecturer in music at the School of Oriental and African Studies (London University). SOAS wisely appreciate that her other activities can only enhance her teaching.

Mark Ellingham

Mark Ellingham is the Publisher of Rough Guides, which he set up 20 years ago. He edits, with Simon Broughton, the door-stopping, two volume reference book, The Rough Guide to World Music.

Misha Maltsev

Misha comes from Pokrovsk in the Republic of Sakha, Siberia. Before moving to London in 2000 he was involved with the organisation of the TABYK music festival, producing a variety of alternative and world music radio programmes for Sakha State Radio and independent stations, publishing a music fanzine and working with local musicians. As well as freelancing for the BBC through radio contributions and documentary programme making, he is also one of London's most eclectic DJs. His film journeys include a Siberian winter expedition on a husky dog sled team and more recently a trek in the jungles of Laos to film the Hmong rebels. Misha is currently studying for his MA in ethnomusicology at the School of Oriental and African Studies.

Rita Ray

Club and radio DJ who plays the global musical spectrum; in the 1990s revitalised the world music scene in London with the Mambo Inn; with Max Reinhardt runs the Shrine club night at Cargo and tours with the Shrine Synchro System all over Europe and Africa; creates soundscapes for Nitro theatre company and others; programmes international music festivals in London; co-presented the first two BBC Radio 3 Awards for World Music (and compiles the annual CD); Has recently co-presented an excellent documentary on Fela Kuti for BBC Radio 3 in September 2004, presented the Festival in the Desert from Mali and WOMAD 2004 for BBC4.

Sam Farah

Sam has spent the last 14 years exploring the heart and soul of the Arabic music world. As Features & Music producer/presenter for BBC World Service, he is responsible for the Arabic Service's output of Arabic, Western and World music, weaved together in his popular and long running weekly show "The Jukebox". His “Arabic Jukebox” CD compilation was released around the world (EMI) in March 2004, with “Part 2” due to be released in 2005. Born in Lebanon and raised on the hauntingly beautiful voice of legendary diva Fairuz, he discovered world music after living in the US in the early 80's and Cyprus in the late 80's, before finally settling down in the UK in 1990 and joining the BBC. He has since produced/presented several series for Radios 3, 4 and World Service, including “Cairo Nights”, “Music For Every Millennium” and “Music Sinbad”. A new series, “Sounds Like Syria”, is due to be broadcast on Radio 3 and World Service in 2005.

Simon Broughton

Simon Broughton is an experienced writer, broadcaster and filmmaker and an authority on World Music. He is editor of the world music magazine Songlines and co-editor of the Rough Guide to World Music, the essential handbook to popular and traditional music around the globe. He has produced an array of radio programmes and reports on world music for BBC Radios 3 and 4. Since making two documentaries for the groundbreaking BBC TV series Rhythms of the World, he's filmed an award-winning documentary about the return of music to Afghanistan and been Executive Producer on the EBU series European Roots for BBC4. He's currently working on a music and Sufism project for Channel 4.