The 15th Music Victoria Awards took place last night at the Melbourne Recital Centre, offering superb musical performances from a range of nominees and some quirky acceptance speeches from winners. MC’d by respected community radio presenters Lyndelle Wilkinson and Chris Gill, the music industry, along with music-loving members of the public gathered to celebrate all things Victorian music.
Grand Salvo and and band kicked off the event in fine fashion with a sublime performance of the song All Those Stars off the Music Victoria Award nominated album Sea Glass before Lyndelle and Chris began the journey of presenting their way through the 27 categories of awards, 10 public voted and 17 by the industry. A whopping 56,000 votes were recorded this year, confirming Victoria’s passion for music.
The opening award of the night, Best Experimental or Avant-Garde Act went to Naretha Williams, who was the first ever First Nations artist to win the category. In his acceptance of his best Country Award, Matt Gow spoke of the love and support he has received from the Melbourne music community since moving from New Zealand over a decade ago. It was great to see Opelousas take out the Best Blues Album nod for their fabulous record Opelousified, which was dedicated to the late, great Chris Wilson. Sampa The Great’s Best Hip Hop Album award was accepted by her sister before Sampa thanked the audience via video from overseas. It’s testament to the success of so many Victorian artists that they called in their thank you’s via video from all corners of the world.
PBS 106.7FM’s Emma Peel and Jesse I were delighted to accept the station’s Hall of Fame induction from Australian film and TV royalty Santo Cilauro. The audience was treated to a live performance from the first ever metal band to perform at the awards, Suldusk, as well as a joyous rendition of the contagious song ‘Stand Up (Clap Your Hands)’ by Melbourne-based South Sudanese artist Gordan Koang. Acclaimed Hip hop artist Philly and vocalist Maylene Slater-Burns made quite an emotional statement with their performance of the poignant ‘Tired’, a soon-to-be released song in response to the recent police shooting of a young Indigenous man in the Northern Territory.
While many of the the 2019 Music Victoria Awards went to a variety of exciting new acts such as Key Hoo, The Maes, Echo Drama and Suldusk, it was the world conquering Teskey Brothers that picked up the most on the night, recieving nods for Best Album, Best Regional/Outer Suburban Act and Best Song, along with the publicly-voted title of Best Band. The Teskeys also accepted their four awards via video message, conveniently it was one member of the band for each award. G Flip took home the $5,000 Premier’s Prize for the Best Breakthrough Act award and newcomer Tones And I was awarded a special Outstanding Achievement Award in recognition of her unprecedented achievements domestically and internationally over the past year including taking out number one on the official music charts of 23 countries.
Kate Ceberano had the pleasure of wrapping up proceedings by inducting her good friends Vika and Linda Bull into 2019 Music Victoria Hall Of Fame. The girls then fronted a band a band of industry stalwarts which included Hunters & Collectors’ mainman Mark Seymour, for an energetic performance of the track ‘When Will You Fall for Me?’, which Seymour wrote for them.
The 2019 Music Victoria Awards showed us once again that Melbourne is indeed one of the world’s music capitals, with such a rich depth of talented, multi-genre, multi-cultural artists who continue to surprise and inspire. Oh, and kudos too to the wonderful Auslan signers who swayed and signed along to speeches and performances, making the night that little bit extra special.
The 2019 Music Victoria Awards Recipients:
PUBLIC-VOTED WINNERS
The Premier’s Prize for the Best Victorian Album of 2019 – $10,000 Cash Prize
The Teskey Brothers – Run Home Slow
Best Band
The Teskey Brothers
Best Song – $3,000 APRA AMCOS Cash Prize
The Teskey Brothers – So Caught Up
Best Solo Artist
Courtney Barnett
Best Male Musician
Paul Kelly
Best Female Musician
Erica Dunn (Tropical F*ck Storm, Palm Springs, MOD CON, Harmony)
The Premier’s Prize for the Best Victorian Breakthrough Act of 2019 – $5,000 Cash Prize
G Flip
Best Live Act – $5,000 Lyrical Road Travel Voucher
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard
Best Small Venue (under 500 capacity)
Northcote Social Club, Northcote
Best Large Venue (over 500 capacity)
Forum, Melbourne
INDUSTRY-VOTED WINNERS
Best Festival
Golden Plains
Best Regional/Outer Suburban Act – $3,000 Bendigo Bank cash prize
The Teskey Brothers
Best Regional/Outer Suburban Venue (Over 50 gigs per year) – $3,000 Bendigo Bank cash prize
Theatre Royal, Castlemaine
Best Regional/Outer Suburban Venue (Under 50 gigs per year) – $3,000 Bendigo Bank cash prize
Meeniyan Town Hall, Meeniyan
Archie Roach Foundation Award for Emerging Talent – $2,000 Archie Roach Foundation Cash Prize
Key Hoo
Best Blues Album
Opelousas – Opelousified
Best Country Album
Matt Joe Gow – Break, Rattle And Roll
Best Electronic Act
Sui Zhen
Best Experimental or Avant-Garde Act
Naretha Williams
Best Folk or Roots Album
The Maes – The Maes
Best Heavy Album
Suldusk – Lunar Falls
Best Hip Hop Act
Sampa The Great
Best Intercultural Act
Përolas
Best Jazz Album
Andrea Keller – Transients Vol. 1
Best Reggae and Dancehall Act
Echo Drama
Best Rock/Punk Album
Tropical F*ck Storm – Braindrops
Best Soul, Funk, Gospel or RnB Album
Allysha Joy – Acadie: Raw
HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES
PBS 106.7FM and Vika & Linda Bull
More info via www.musicvictoria.com.au
