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Why Awards? by Katharina Lobeck
It's never been an easy concept. World Music. Invented as an ostensibly harmless marketing concept in 1987, its whiff of exoticism and paternalism got up the noses of many critics, who instantly sharpened their weapons to defend artists' rights to access the mainstream market. Over the battling noises of the warring factions, the genre quietly enjoyed a steady growth, demanding increasing floor space in record shops and attracting attention from all sides of the music industry. Nearly 15 years later, the tag may still not feel comfortable, but it has turned into a solid niche that accommodates some of the most inspired releases from around the globe. The creation of an industry awards is as much a confirmation of the genre's international stature as it is a celebration of the diverse musics huddled together under the World Music umbrella.
As previous attempts of creating such a prize scheme had never moved beyond the drawing board, artists had so far only been acknowledged in the world music sections of other awards and in the ratings of specialist publications. One of the most influential magazine votings has always been the Critics Poll conducted by leading world music monthly fRoots.  For fRoots editor Ian Anderson (pictured left), the thrill of bestowing the award had long been coupled with a regret for its limited impact. When he realised that hours of patient vote counting resulted in little more than pretty CD stickers for the winning artist, he decided that time had come to make a bigger splash for world music. 'I felt it was a shame that the success of the poll didn't really go any further than our pages. It had struck me for a while, that World Music was one of the few markets that didn't have an industry awards. When I then felt the positive effects the Radio 2 Folk Awards had had on the folk scene, a light bulb switched on. I thought, why not propose a World Music Award to Radio 3?'
After several weeks of refining an initial proposal in consultation with other authorities of the World Music scene, he sent the draft to the head of Radio 3, Roger Wright, who received it with enthusiasm. 'World Music is playing an increasingly important part on the network, so taking the awards on board seemed a very natural step', he reflects.
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