The results of the 7th edition of the Premios Music Office will be released on May 16 in the Lekuona Fabrika room in Errenteria.
Music Office of the Basque Country annually recognizes the most significant projects of the Basque music scene of the year. The jury, made up of eight professionals from the sector, has begun the evaluation phase of the works of Basque creators and groups, the resolution of which will be announced on May 16 at Lekuona Fabrika in Errenteria.
In total, ten prizes will be distributed, without any type of classification, of which eight will be awarded by the jury. A jury that will be made up of eight experts and experienced people in the music sector: Agus Barandiaran, Korrontzi trikitilari; Gabriel Erkoreka, composer and Musikene teacher; Gema Sánchez, coordinator of AIEnRUT; Iker Bárbara, head of the Zarata Mondo Sonoro magazine; Maite Larburu, violinist and singer-songwriter; Maria Taosa, journalist from Radio; Mark Barnes, Eresbil’s Head of Scores and Documentation; and Sonia Durán, manager of the Independent Phonographic Union.
Another of the awards will be granted by the Etxepare Basque Institute, sponsor of the awards, which will recognize the work of international dissemination of Basque music. Each prize consists of €2,000 and a sculpture by Fernando Mikelarena. The EHMBE board of directors, on the other hand, will recognize the career of a person, group or entity related to musical activity, with the honorary award, for developing an outstanding project in the fields of training, awareness, dissemination or production.
The proposals include records, singles or published video clips, live works, written musical works or soundtracks, among others. Of the 120 received, the majority are pop-rock in style, around 30%. But there are also projects that work on contemporary classical, folk, jazz or electronic music, in that order. However, the trend in recent years has increased, and that is that there are more and more projects that merge different styles, creating really interesting works. As for the language, seven out of ten works that have been presented have Basque as the predominant language. Instrumental works represent 11% and works in Spanish 10%, the rest being those created in languages other than Basque and Spanish. From a gender perspective, if last year projects led by women predominated for the first time in the history of the awards, this year 42% of the works are led by women.
The winning proposals can be heard live at the gala that will take place on May 16.