The Welsh Music Prize which recognizes the best in creativity and new music from Wales, announced its shortlist for 2020 on Janice Long’s BBC Radio Wales programme tonight (Thurs).
On this, its 10th year, the award’s shortlist has increased to 15 albums, showcasing the strength and vitality within contemporary Welsh music making.
The Welsh Music Prize was co-founded in 2011 by BBC Presenter Huw Stephens and music consultant John Rostron, with the winning album selected by a panel of music industry expert judges, which is refreshed yearly.
Welsh Language Album of the Year 2020 winner Ani Glass gets a nod, as do Colorama whose mainstay Carwyn Ellis has been shortlisted before for his work with Colorama, Bendith and Rio 18.
Previous winners Gruff Rhys and Georgia Ruth are included tooo.
Local independent record labels Libertino and Bubblewrap triumph in this list, with four and two nominations.
Winners of God Is In The TV‘s Neutron Prize 2020, Islet, also get a nomination
The Welsh Music Prize 2020 finalists are:
‘Mirores‘ – Ani Glass
‘Chaos Wonderland‘ – Colorama
‘Ofni’ – Cotton Wolf
‘Care City’ – Deyah
‘Steel Zakuski’ – Don Leisure
‘Mai’ – Georgia Ruth
‘Pang!’ – Gruff Rhys
‘Eyelet’ – Islet
‘Bring Me The Head of Jerry Garcia’ – Keys
‘A Vision In The Dark’ – Kidsmoke
‘Sbwriel Gwyn’ – Los Blancos
‘Valley Boy’ – Luke RV
‘Zone Rouge’ – Right Hand Left Hand
‘Everything Solved At Once’ – Silent Forum
‘Iaith Y Nefoedd’ – Yr Ods
Last year’s winner was the Welsh-language post-punk trio Adwaith with their album ‘Melyn’.
Gwenllian Anthony of the band told GodIsInTheTV about what the win meant to them as a band.
“Winning Welsh Music Prize was one of the best days for us! We were not expecting it at all, being amongst very established artists and amazing albums!
We wrote some of the album when we were 16/17, so to think that people engaged and loved it so much was a real shock for us. We went through a period of self doubt (as every young woman does) but winning the prize solidified that we were going in the right direction and gave us a kick in the backside to go on and write the second album – that we’re finally going to record!
I think if we could relive a day in our career again it would definitely be Welsh Music Prize.”
Other previous winners include Boy Azooga for their debut album ‘1,2,Kung Fu’, Meilyr Jones and Gwenno for their debut solo albums 2013 and Y Dydd Olaf (The Last Day) respectively.
This year’s 10th Welsh Music Prize winner will be announced on Thursday 19 November 2020
For more information about the Welsh Music Prize go to welshmusicprize.com or follow @welshmusicprize #WMP2020
