BEST MUSIC / ARTISTS / SHOWS OF 2005:
 

BBC RADIO 3 WORLD MUSIC AWARDS ("The Planet" Awards)

The 2005 awards have been announced. Amadou & Mariam won for Album of the Year (Dimanche à Bamako) and for African artists of the year. Biographies of all nominees, and audio clips for all are available on the site.  

The 4 Albums of the Year nominees were:

• Amadou & Miriam: Dimanche à Bamako
• Salif Keita:  M'Bemba
• Thione Seck:  Orientation
• Ali Farka Toure & Toumani Diabate:  In the Heart of the Moon

Three albums from Mali and one from Senegal (Thione Seck)! Sort of confirms Charlie Gillett's assessment (below)

fROOTS MAGAZINE CRITICS' POLL

Every year, the top 4 albums in the fRoots poll automatically become the nominees for Album of the Year in the BBC Awards. Their website lists their full 20 picks for New Album of the Year, and 15 for Re-issue/Compilation.

The rest of the top 10:
Konono No. 1: Congotronics
Chris Wood: The Lark Descending
Ry Cooder: Chavez Ravine
Emmanuel Jal & Abdel Gadir Salim: Ceasefire
Kronos Quartet & Asha Bhosle: You've Stolen My Heart
Cheikh Lô:  Lamp Fall
June Tabor: At the Wood's Heart

Top 3 (of 15) Reissue/Compilations:
Various: Golden Afrique, vol. 1
June Tabor: Always
Shantel: Bucovina Club, vol. 2
 

GRAMMY AWARDS

The world and roots music award winners are listed here on World Music Central.
 

CHARLIE GILLETT (BBC Radio London, "The Sound of the World")

His picks for 2005 as played on his Dec. 24 show. (K'naan won his "best hope for 2006" selection)

SONGLINES MAGAZINE (U.K.) "Best Albums of 2005"
(In no particular order):

Amadou et Miriam:  Dimanche à Bamako
Kronos Quartet & Asha Bhosle: You've Stolen My Heart
Mariza:  Transparente
Ska Cubano:  Ay, Caramba!
Ballake Sissoko:  Tomora
various:  Golden Afrique, Vol. 1
Kiran Ahluwalia:  Kiran Ahluwalia
DJ Shantel:  Bucovina Club, Vol. 2
Salif Keita:  M'Bemba
Pink Martini: Hang on Little Tomato
 

NO DEPRESSION MAGAZINE (Americana)
Top Five (The Jan-Feb issue lists the Top 40 picks):

Ry Cooder: Chavez Ravine
Mary Gauthier: Mercy Now
Bettye LaVette: I've Got My Own Hell To Raise
Marty Stuart and his Fabulous Superlatives: Souls' Chapel
Robbie Fulks: Georgia Hard
 

FREIGHT TRAIN BOOGIE (Americana) - Top Ten of 2005 page
 

MY OWN PICKS:
a) CD's
I only get to listen to a relatively small number of CD's, so this is just a subset of the best: selections from among the CD's I've managed to buy.

Best CD:  These are all "the best". Why choose just one?

• Salif Keita: M'Bemba
• various: Golden Afrique, vol. 1
• Bettye LaVette: I've Got My Own Hell to Raise

Three excellent CDs from Canada

• Donné Roberts: Rhythm Was Born
• Alpha Yaya Diallo: Djama
• K'naan:  The Dusty Foot Philosopher

Other picks:

• Amadou et Mariam: Dimanche à Bamako
• Bob Dylan: No Direction Home
• Ballalake Sissoko:  Tomora
• Oliver Mtukudzi: Nhava
• Debashish Bhattacharya: Calcutta Slide Guitar
• Emmanuel Jal & Abdel Gadir Salim: Ceasefire
• Ali Farka Toure & Toumani Diabate: In the Heart of the Moon
• Bembeya Jazz: The Syliphone Years (re-issue)
   

b) Live Shows (photos for all these are on my Photo page)

Best shows:

• Bettye LaVette, Nov. 28, Lee's Palace
  (see my show report)
• Billy Joe Shaver, Aug. 13, Harbourfront
  (my bio/appreciation of Shaver is here)

Festivals:

• Afrofest, Jul 9-10
  with headliner Oliver Mtukudzi, rarely-seen performers like King Mensah from Togo, little-known acts that impressed everyone like Alakomi, plus 2 days of great weather, food & vibes.
• Small World Festival: Sep-Oct.
  Thirteen shows (I think) in this year's festival. You could pick just about any one of them for some great music. The most varied festival in town. Highlights for me this year were:
  • Trio Jourban from Palestine
  • Sidi Goma from India
  • along with Lura, Seu Jorge.

Other great shows:

• African Guitar Summit, Jun, 26 at Harbourfront
• Wanda Jackson, Oct. 10 at the Cadilllac Lounge
• Tinariwen (with Daara J), Jul. 15 at Harbourfront
• Oliver Mtukudzi, Jul 10 at Afrofest, AND Jul. 13 at the Phoenix
• Buddy Miller, Feb. 23 at the Horseshoe
• King Sunny Ade, Mar. 31 at The Opera Hose

And an excellent new music series:

• Music Africa's "Acoustic Africa" series at the NOW Lounge, including Fojeba's CD Release Party and the Malian Music night

BEST OF 2004

BBC World Music Awards (for 2004)

Audio files are available for all nominees.

Winners were announced in late January in various geographical categories. Winner in the "Critics" category: Youssou n'Dour, over the other nominees: Tinariwen, Lhasa & Andrew Cronshaw. But... in the "Africa" category, Tinariwen won over Youssou and two other nominees...?

Montreal's Lhasa won in the Americas category.

fRoots Top 20

The BBC's Critic's Award nominees are based on the top four vote-getters in fRoots magazine's annual Top 20. Click the link for the whole list.

Afropop Worldwide Top Ten

Album of the Year: Youssou n'Dour's Egypt ("one of the most important African recordings in years").
(Afropop's poll resulted in a tie between Egypt and Tinariwen's Amassakoul for album of the year)

Also in the Top Ten:
Eva Ayllon, !Eva! Leyanda Peruana (Peru)
Gangbe Brass Band, Whendo (Benin)
Jaojoby, Malagasy (Madagascar)
Mory Kante, Sabou (Guinea)

Newcomer of the Year: Aurelio Martinez, Garifuna Soul (Honduras)
Shiyani Ngocobo, Introducing Shiyani Ngocobo (South Africa)
Spanish Harlem Orchestra, Across 110th Street (USA)
Tinariwen, Amassakoul (Mali)
Thandiswa, Zabalaza (South Africa)

Under "Compilations", they list the African Guitar Summit CD