News Item

BBC'S WEEKEND CELEBRATION FOR 2007 WMA's

The 6th annual BBC Radio 3 Awards for World Music Poll Winners’ Concert 2007 will be held at the Barbican on Sunday May 27 – the culmination of a weekend of events featuring the cream of world music artists and broadcasters.

BBC Radio 3 will be hosting a raft of free events at The Barbican Centre over the Bank Holiday weekend, including a live broadcast of BBC Radio 3’s World Routes, featuring performances from World Music Award winners Maurice el Médioni and Ghada Shbeir on Saturday May 26, and a live performance by the winner of the Newcomer Award, K’Naan, on Sunday May 27. The Free stage will also host world music ‘labs’ with BBC presenters Charlie Gillett and Gilles Peterson discussing world music and radio production.

A number of international broadcasters have also joined the celebrations this year and are participating in the free stage events, including WDR Funkhaus Europa, 5 Planeten who host a live two hour radio show from the Freestage on the Saturday.

Teaching materials based around this year’s nominees and the debate over what constitutes ‘world music’ will shortly be made available to a focused group of ESOL teachers in London.

The Poll Winners’ concert will be broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 on Sunday May 27 and via a live webcast on www.bbc.co.uk/radio3

==================================================
SATURDAY MAY 26 – SPOTLIGHT ON LIVE RADIO

3.00 – 4.00 pm: LIVE BBC Radio 3’s World Routes (featuring Maurice el Médioni and Ghada Shbeir) presented by Lucy Duran from the Freestage.
5.00 – 7.00 pm: LIVE WDR radio show 5 Planeten by German station Funkhaus Europa presented by Francis Gay from the Freestage.

*THE FIRST 20 STUDENTS TO ARRIVE AND REGISTER THEIR DETAILS WILL EACH RECEIVE A £20 DISCOUNT ON A POLL WINNERS CONCERT TICKET*. STUDENT CARD REQUIRED ON THE DAY.
==================================================
SUNDAY MAY 27 – FOCUS ON THIS YEAR’S WINNERS

2.00 – 3.00 pm: Freestage performance by K’naan
3.00 – 6.00 pm World Music labs to include:
Charlie Gillett in conversation with this year's winners.
Gilles Peterson and Charlie Gillett play their favourite records, discuss their different DJ styles and reflect on 20 years of world music.

*TICKETED FILM SCREENINGS FROM THE INTERNATIONAL FILM FORUM IMZ TAKING PLACE THROUGHOUT THE DAY*

POLL WINNERS’ CONCERT

Starting at 6pm in the Barbican's main concert hall and featuring live performances from the following winning artists who will receive their awards live on stage:

Mahmoud Ahmed
Debashish Bhattacharya
Gotan Project
K'Naan
Maurice el Médioni
Ghada Shbeir
===================================================
The winner of the Audience Award will be announced on the evening. Yusuf Mahmoud and Hildegard Kiel will receive the World Shaker Award for their tireless work putting together the Sauti da Busara festival in Zanzibar and running the Dhow Countries Music Academy.

For further details on the Awards and BBC Radio 3’s world music output:
www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/worldmusic

www.myspace.com/bbcawardsforworldmusic
Words Sarah Marshall