Barbados Music Awards 2008

Barbados Music Awards 2008

The Barbados Music Awards are now in their third year, and this year’s event was held on January 27th, 2008 at the Sir Garfield Sobers Gymnasium in Barbados.

For such a small island, Barbados is generating a huge wealth of musical talent with record labels such as Atlantic, DEFJAM, SRP, Universal, VP Records, Jive and Sony/BMG all having at least one Barbadian recording artist. These artists are now performing on the worldwide stage and becoming Grammy award winners too.

The event was well attended by high profile performers, executives from the music industry and tickets were sold to the general public to enjoy and celebrate the success of their own local musicians.

As you would expect from any awards ceremony there was a red carpet entry, stretch limousines, beautiful women in designer dresses, men in designer suits, shades and the glare of hundreds of camera’s flashing. The air was thick with excitement and anticipation as musicians awaited the results to see if their work would be recognised.

TotallyBarbados.com caught up with some of the stars to get their opinion on the Barbadian music industry and to get their view of Barbados as a country. To read what Sir Cliff Richard thinks of Barbados and to see what Hal Linton is up to please click on the links below.

The award ceremony got underway with a performance from Hal Linton, who wooed the crowd with his sexy voice and showed off his range of musical talent playing guitar. His performance was followed by the Cornerstone Awards, which were presented to 12 individuals for their contribution to music in Barbados, please click on the link below to see the winners and their categories.

The audience were then treated to a performance from Phillip 7, who got the ladies in the crowd very excited with his hit song ‘Beautiful Surprise‘, which received a resounding applause.

Next to grace the stage were Tarah and Natahlee, who stirred the crowd with their soca rendition of ‘No man to whine upon‘.

The awards then continued with an award being given for Gospel Artiste, Band of the Year, Best Ragga Soca Single Male, Best Ragga Soca Single Female, Best Soca Album, Best Soca Single, Best Social Commentary, Best Soca Compilation and Best New Artiste – for details of nominees and winners please click on the link below.

Next was a performance from the youngest performer of the evening J-Co, who at only 16 is already showing signs of a very promising musical career. He gave a great performance and showed the diversity of his voice with a medley of songs.

Next awards were given for Best Non Soca Collaboration, Best Rock/Alternative Artiste, and Best Jazz Album – for details of nominees and winners please click on the link below.

The stage was then graced with the beautiful Livvi Franc who has a stunning voice and a strong presence, the audience appreciated her sultry and sexy voice and she was then presented with a special award to celebrate her recent signing with Jive as her record label.

A special award was then presented to Edwin Yearwood followed by awards for Best Reggae Single, Reggae Artiste of the Year, Best Music Video – Male, Best Rock Alternative Artiste, Best Jazz Album, Best Jazz Artiste, for details of nominees and winners please click on the link below.

Next up on stage was the young and vibrant Voice Mail from Jamaica who again had the audience rocking in their seats.

With the crowd now stirred up it was time to bring on Shontelle, who gave a lively performance showing off her talented voice with a calypso feel, she then wound down singing a ballad, which demonstrated why this young lady is already becoming another Barbadian diva, the tempo then went into frenzy as Beenie Man – the original king of dance hall, hit the stage as they performed together. The audience went wild and showed that Beenie Man is still very much at the top of his game. Both were then presented with special awards.

The point that Barbados is such a musical nation was illustrated by the fact that Rihanna, who attended Combermere School, Livvi Franc from Queens College and Shontelle from Harrison’s College are all now signed to major record labels and are taking the international music scene by storm.

There was then a speech of thanks from the Barbados Community Foundation, who are the official charity of the Barbados Music Awards. This was followed by the interval.

The second half opened with Krosfyah performing a very energetic soca medley and awards were given in the remaining categories of Entertainer of the Year – Male, Entertainer of the Year – Female, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Engineer, Songwriter of the Year, Best Music Video – Female, Best Pop R&B Single, Rap/Hip Hop Artiste, Best Rap/Hip Hop Single, and Pop/R&B Artiste of the Year, for details of nominees and winners please click on the link below.

There was a spectacular performance from Wynter Gordan, who made her international debut performing ‘Daddy’s Song’, which had a real folk sound and with her beautiful voice really made her an artist to look out for in years to come.

There was also a surprise visit from Patrice Roberts, who had interrupted her schedule of performing at the Trinidad & Tobago Carnival to pop back to Barbados for the event.

A special award was also presented to Trinidadian Machel Montano in the category of International Lifetime Achievement.

During the interval the audience were invited to buy raffle tickets for the sum of $10BDS, the prize was a BMW 116i, which was then won by Elaine Small.

There was then a performance by L’il Rick, who is always a favourite with the crowd and at the 2008 Barbados Music Awards this was no exception, it was another fun performance from the talented Barbadian artiste.

The climax of the show came when ‘Sizzla‘ performed a medley of his great Jamaican dance hall hits, which had the audience up out of their seats!

The event was a huge success and confirmed that the Barbados Music Awards are here to stay. The event is the brainchild of Ronnie Morris, himself a singer, songwriter and male model, who found success performing from the age of 12. He has formed Timeless Barbados Entertainment and is the founder, director and producer of the Barbados Music Awards.

For further information on the event and to book tickets to attend for 2009 please visit www.barbadosmusicawards.com.