Winners in eight categories honored at Polyton
Singer Peter Fox (52) has won the prize in the "Performance" category at the Polyton Music Awards for his "Live 2023 Tour". Fans were able to apply to be dancers for his tour in advance, turning every concert "into a participatory party", was the explanation given at the awards ceremony in Berlin on Friday evening.
The Polyton awards in a total of eight categories were presented for the first time this year. The prize was initiated by the Academy for Popular Music. The winners were selected by the 50 founding members, including Herbert Grönemeyer, RIN, Shirin David and Judith Holofernes. The prize is intended as an award "by musicians for musicians".
In the "Stage" category, the man behind the "Deichkind Live 2022" concerts came out on top: Henning Besser had translated "the Deichkind madness into an innovative stage concept", it was said.
The pop duo Blumengarten received the award for their composition of the mini-album "versprochen, alles wird gut!". The category recognizes the composition of a song or an album, for example. The duo's album consists of just three songs with a total playing time of less than seven minutes, but it contains "roughly three hundred and twenty-five thousand ideas", was the reason given.
The prize in the "Production" category went to composer, producer and singer Sofia Kourtesis for the single "Madres". Her music incorporates Latin American rhythms and the song achieves a "tonal and emotional density with which the Berlin-based Peruvian seamlessly translates the feeling of security and love expressed in the lyrics into music", it said.
Lyrically, the collaboration between actress and singer Paula Hartmann and rapper Céline on the song "3 Sekunden" was convincing. In the song, the two sing about the sexual harassment that women experience. "Airpods in, but airpods out / Always in place, pepper spray, heart beating loud" - lines like these do without metaphors in order to "relentlessly capture reality", it said.
The winners of the "Digital" category are also about sexual assault - the winner is the #musicmeetoo association. On this central platform, those affected can share their experiences anonymously and publicly. "By making visible what otherwise takes place in secret, supposed individual cases become structural grievances and set the course for change," was the reason given.
"A Song For You", a choir-like platform for BIPoC, i.e. people who experience racist discrimination, was chosen in the "Teamwork" category. "A Song For You stands for polyphony in harmony, the experiment of cohesion."
The "Wildcard" - a category without a clear description - was awarded to the Femme Bass Mafia initiative for its DJ education work for all people who are not cis-male.
At the awards ceremony, several categories honored notable achievements in the music industry, including the "Music Production" category, which was won by Sofia Kourtesis for her single "Madres". Many people in the music community were excited to learn that the "People's Choice" award, or the "Wildcard" category, went to the Femme Bass Mafia for their DJ education initiatives.
Source: www.dpa.com
