Mari Boine and Solo Cissokho nominated to the Nordic Council’s Music Prize 2003
The Norwegian candidates to the prestigious Nordic Council’s Music Prize are world music/crossover artists Mari Boine and Solo Cissokho.
I’m very, very, much more than satisfied, says an elated Solo Cissokho to Norwegian daily Aftenposten.
The Nordic Council’s Music Prize is awarded to composers and performers on a biennial basis. The recipient of the prize, which consists of a DKK 350 000 award, is selected by the Nordic Music Committee – NOMUS. The Nordic Council’s Music Prize will this year be awarded to a multi-cultural performer of ethnic music.
Norway’s two candidates to the prize are Mari Boine and Solo Cissokho.
Mari Boine is undoubtedly one of Norway’s best known world-music performers. The Sami vocalist has released several acclaimed albums since her debut in the early 80s and has collaborated with a wide range of composers and performers from a wealth of genres and ethnical groups. Boine’s latest release was last year’s Emarcy/Universal album Eight Seasons which has been labelled as her most wholesome work to date.
“Mari Boine deserves her standing as Sami music’s foremost representative. Boine is more than a world-musician, she is the epitome of a world artist” reads the statement from the NOMUS committee.
Solo Cissokho emigrated from Senegal to Norway in 1995. His first release was a combination of African and Norwegian music – the album Fra Senegal Til Setesdal which he recorded with Norwegian vocalist Kirsten Bråten Berg. Cissokho is widely regarded as a master of the kora, a 21-string West African harp. Cissokho was earlier this year awarded the BBC World Music Award 2003 in the multi-cultural music category. The release that earned him this award was his 2002 album Tretakt Takissaba which was recorded together with Swedish fiddle player Ellika Frisell.
Other nominees to the Nordic Council’s Music Prize 2003 are Denmark’s Pierre Dørge & New Jungle Orchestra and Outlandish, Kàri Sverrisson from the Faeroe Islands, Kimmo Pohjonen and Gjallarhorn from Finland, Sigurdur Flosason, Pètur Grètarsson, Steindòr Andersen, Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson and Sigur Ròs from Iceland, Swedes Ellika Frisell and Ziya Aytekin as well as Anna Thastum Kuitse from Greenland.
Last year’s Nordic Council’s Music Prize 2003 was awarded to composer Sunleif Rasmussen from the Faeroe Islands for his work Symphony No. 1.
