麻豆约拍

The represents one of the biggest nights in the UK’s folk music calendar, and tomorrow night, in their 17th year, the event will be held in the splendid surroundings of Royal Albert Hall in London.

The awards, hosted once again by Radio 2’s Mark Radcliffe and singer and musician Julie Fowlis, celebrate the absolute best of the UK’s thriving folk music scene, and over the last few years familiar names in the nominees’ lists have been joined by a new wave of folk artists.

This year, more than ever, the number of new names dominating the nominations really does reflect how exciting, vital and creative this genre of music has become. And many of these artists are pushing the boundaries of folk music, and bringing with them a new generation of music fan. Lynched and Stick in the Wheel, two acts in the Best Group category, have their roots in punk and electronic music respectively and Folk Singer of the Year nominee Rhiannon Giddens , from North Carolina, blends jazz, country, blues, gospel and world music to create a distinctive style which is winning her legions of fans inside and outside the folk world.

Whilst the awards celebrate the best new music of the last 12 months, they also honour key figures whose influence has helped to shape folk music in this country. This year’s Lifetime achievement awards go to two women whose contrasting musical styles reflect the breadth of the folk genre. Joan Armatrading, with one of the outstanding voices in British music since the Seventies blending folk, rock, blues and jazz styles has influenced a generation of singer-songwriters. Norma Waterson was a key figure in the British folk revival of the early Sixties with North Yorkshire vocal group The Watersons. Her influence has been felt throughout British folk music for decades, through her Mercury nominated solo albums and her collaborations with daughter Eliza and husband Martin Carthy. Beloved in the Folk World Norma’s performance on tomorrow night’s show will doubtless be a moment to remember.

One of the most hotly contested categories of the night is the Young Folk Award, which has provided the springboard for many careers including those of Bella Hardy, Jim Moray and Tim van Eyken. Radio 2 is proud to support young musicians, not just through the Young Folk Award, but with the annual Young Chorister competition and the Radio 2 Young Brass Award, which just last week saw 21-year-old euphonium player Daniel Thomas from Rhymney, South Wales pick up the title for 2016.

The Folk Awards is one of the key events that I work on as Editor of Specialist music at Radio 2, a role in which I also oversee more than a dozen programmes including the weekly jazz, country, rhythm and blues, brass band, big band, orchestral and organ music shows. It’s a job which puts me right at the heart of Radio 2’s distinctive and diverse output, and it’s hugely rewarding to work with passionate music experts in these specialist fields, both in-house and from independent production companies. I also get the opportunity to set up exciting new music projects, like the recent DAB pop up stations Radio 2 Country (which broadcast live coverage from the Country to Country festival) and Radio 2 50s, which ran in April as a part of the 麻豆约拍 Music My Generation series. Marty Wilde, Imelda May, Len Goodman and Mark Radcliffe all presented programmes so if you didn’t catch it, do listen again via 麻豆约拍 iPlayer Radio on .

麻豆约拍 Radio 2 broadcasts over 1,100 hours of specialist music each year, including 260 hours of live music. In the past year we’ve had many superb sessions on the Radio 2 Folk Show including sets from The Unthanks, Lau and Fishermans’ Friends.

Radio 2 also plays a greater variety of music than any other radio station in the UK with 4,423 different tracks every month, including specialist music tracks which can be heard in our daytime programmes. Radio 2 gives its audience a radio station like no other and we’re very lucky that our listeners are so appreciative and supportive of what we do.

The Folk Awards will be broadcast live on 麻豆约拍 Radio 2 from 7.30pm and Simon Mayo will also be presenting a specially extended Drivetime show live from the venue at 5pm. You can also watch online via the , on iPlayer from Thursday morning and the Red Button from Saturday.

Al Booth is Editor of Specialist music at Radio 2