FATEA AWARDS 2007
The Fatea Awards, recognise achievement in 2007 as voted upon by the crew in the FATEA office. Everyone heard all of the winning recordings and artists. The exception is the live award where not everyone was at the same gig.
No one artist is allowed to win more than one award, though many were considered in a number of catagories
The awards come with plenty of kudos and merit, but sadly no big tv show, speeches and trophies. In each catagory we announce the winner and the two artists that came close to beating them to the winning post.
We also have three special awards. The Tradition Award is presented to the young guns that have traditional folk at the root of their sound and use it to inspire new songs, tunes and arrangements. The Innovation Award is presented for a context or concept that widens the appeal of roots based music. The Lifetime Achievement Award speaks for it's self. A new award this year, it recognises years of work in tradiional music, not just playing, but also by inspiring others to take part.
With out further ado or guilding of the lily, the top performers in the 2007 Fatea Music Awards are:
Born in Falkirk in 1950, Brian McNeill was trained on the violin before taking a soujourn to the electric guitar. Having seen the error of his ways, he went back to the fiddle and co-founded legendary Scottish group the Battlefield Band. A multi-instrumentalist, Brian is a dab hand at fiddle, viola, mandolin, cittern, bouzouki, guitar, concertina, bass and hurdy-gurdy. In addition he's a mean writer of songs and tunes, as well as the odd novel.
He was a member of folk super group Clan Alba, and is in constant demand as both a producer and session player. He has been the musical director of a number of prestigious concert series and was appointed Head Of Scottish Music at the Royal Acadamy Of Scottish Music And Drama. He has hosted the Session at Cambridge Folk Festival since 2001, during which time he clocked up the record for the most consecutive appearances at the festival. He has provided space for fledgling artists to stretch their wings.
It is without hesitation that we award Brian McNeill the first Fatea Lifetime Achievement Award.