The BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards celebrate outstanding achievement during the previous year within the field of folk music, with the aim of raising the profile of folk and acoustic music. The awards have been given annually since 2000 by British radio station BBC Radio 2.
Ciarán Mac Mathúna was an Irish broadcaster and music collector. He was a recognised authority on Irish traditional music and lectured extensively on the subject. He travelled around Ireland, England, Scotland and America collecting music.
Spark Sunderland is a community radio station serving 15- to 30-year-olds in the Sunderland area. Spark carries a variety of content catering for both mainstream and niche musical audiences, specialising in chart hits and new music throughout the day, and specialist programming after 7 pm. The radio station broadcasts on 107.00FM and online via the station's website. The official launch of Spark took place at the new £12 million CitySpace building in the centre of the city of Sunderland.
Jim Johnston is a musician from Bristol, England. Formerly one half of trip-hop band Monk & Canatella with Simon Russell in the 1990s. He now performs as a solo artist.
The Unthanks are an English folk group known for their eclectic approach in combining traditional English folk, particularly Northumbrian folk music, with other musical genres. Their debut album, Cruel Sister, was Mojo magazine's Folk Album of the Year in 2005. Of their subsequent albums, nine have received four or five-starred reviews in the British national press. Their album Mount the Air, released in 2015, won in the best album category in the 2016 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. In 2017 they released two albums featuring the songs and poems of Molly Drake, mother of singer-songwriter and musician Nick Drake.
Nancy Kerr is an English folk musician and songwriter, specialising in the fiddle and singing. Born in London, she now lives in Sheffield. Kerr is a Principal Lecturer in Folk Music at Leeds Conservatoire and Newcastle University. She is the daughter of London-born singer-songwriter Sandra Kerr and Northumbrian piper Ron Elliott. She was the 2015 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards "Folk Singer of the Year".
The Young'uns are an English folk group from Stockton, County Durham, England, who won the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards "Best Group" award in 2015 and 2016 and “Best Album” for Strangers in 2018. They specialise in singing unaccompanied, and they perform traditional shanties, contemporary songs such as Billy Bragg's "Between the Wars" and Sydney Carter's "John Ball", and original works including "You Won’t Find Me on Benefits Street" and "The Battle of Stockton". 2017 album Strangers includes nine new songs celebrating inspiring people 'A homage to the outsider; a eulogy for the wayfarer; a hymn for the migrant.' "These Hands" tells the life story of 1950's immigrant Sybil Phoenix while the story of the Battle of Cable Street is told through the words of Stockton teenager Johnny Longstaff. In February 2020 the band debuted the stage production 'The Ballad of Johnny Longstaff' at Newcastle's Northern Stage theatre to rave reviews.
Lucy Victoria Ward is an English singer-songwriter from Derby, England. She performs, with a voice described as expressive and powerful, traditional English folk songs as well as her own material. Three of her albums, Adelphi Has to Fly, Single Flame and I Dreamt I Was a Bird, have been critically acclaimed and have each received four-starred reviews in the British national press.
Mad Dog Mcrea are a British folk band from Plymouth, Devon, England, their music blends a mixture of folk rock, pop, gypsy jazz and bluegrass.
Aidan O'Rourke is a Scottish contemporary folk music fiddle player and composer. He was named the 2014 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards Musician of the Year and the Scots Trad Music Awards 2011 Composer of the Year. In addition to his solo career, O'Rourke also plays in the award-winning folk trio Lau alongside Kris Drever and Martin Green. He was one of 20 musicians commissioned for New Music 20x12 by PRS for Music Foundation to celebrate the 2012 Summer Olympics. O'Rourke has worked with Eddi Reader, Andy Sheppard, Alyth, Roddy Woomble and appears on more than eighty recordings. Previously, he was a member of Blazin' Fiddles, The Unusual Suspects and Tabache.
Phillip Henry and Hannah Martin are an English folk music duo. In 2017, they renamed themselves Edgelarks and released an eponymous album.
Climbing Trees are a Welsh four-piece "Cymrucana" band based in Pontypridd, South Wales. The group currently features Matthew Frederick (piano/guitar/vocals), Colenso Jones (guitar/bass/vocals), Martin Webb (guitar/bass/vocals) and James Bennetts (drums/vocals).
Ange Hardy is an English singer, songwriter and recording artist.
The Correspondents were a British electro swing duo based in London, formed by vocalist and MC Mr. Bruce and producer Tim Cole in 2007.
Summat's Brewin', the fourth album by the Yorkshire-based folk music duo O'Hooley & Tidow, was released in August 2015 in a limited edition of 1,000 signed copies. The songs on the album explore society’s fascination with drink, drinking and real ale.
Talisk are a Scottish folk band composed of Mohsen Amini, Hayley Keenan, and Graeme Armstrong. The band rose to prominence after winning the 2015 BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award and the MG Alba Scots Trad Music Awards "Folk Band of the Year" category in 2017.
"StarRingChild" is the sixth single by Japanese singer Aimer, released on May 21, 2014 under Defstar Records. Written by Hiroyuki Sawano, the song was used as the ending theme of episode 7 of the mecha anime OVA series Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn and episode 22 of the OVA's TV edit version Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn RE:0096. The single peaked at No. 3 on Oricon's singles charts and No. 17 on Billboard Japan's Hot 100.
Mohsen Amini is a Scottish concertinist. He is a co-founder and member of the folk trio Talisk and the folk band Ímar.
The BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award is an annual competition for young folk musicians in the United Kingdom. It was first awarded in 1988 as the Young Tradition Award, taking its present name in 1998. Recent winners of the award include Brighde Chaimbeul, Talisk and Greg Russell & Ciaran Algar.
David Wrench is a Welsh musician, songwriter, producer and mixer based in London. His work has been nominated for Grammys, Brit Awards and shortlisted for numerous Mercury Prize nominations including the 2017 winning album Process by Sampha. Wrench has been the recipient of the BBC Radio Cymru C2 Producer of the Year award five times in six years between 2007 and 2012 and has received Music Producer Guild Awards (MPGs) including Mix Engineer of the Year 2016 and 2019. Credits include, David Byrne, Frank Ocean, Caribou, Goldfrapp, Erasure, The xx, Sampha, Jamie xx, Jungle, FKA Twigs, Glass Animals, Alma, Hot Chip, Marika Hackman, Honne, Jack Garratt, Austra, Tourist, Blossoms, Richard Russell, Let's Eat Grandma, Young Fathers, Georgia, Bat For Lashes, and Race Horses.
