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fRoots Albums of 2006 list

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Yes, it’s the 20th Annual fRoots Poll, and the 6th year it has produced the nominees in the Planets – the BBC Radio 3 Awards for World Music. Once again, we proudly present the only definitive ‘best of’ list..

It’s two decades since we started our annual task of cajoling a large worldwide panel of experts and enthusiasts – journalists, musicians, radio presenters, producers, shop staff and general observers – to vote for their favourite albums of the previous year. Since we started, the panel has grown ever larger and the task more complicated. It’s easier in some aspects now we have email, but more complicated as everybody drowns under spam and too much information. The sheer volume of releases these days is daunting, and in effect everything is available everywhere at once now because of web retailing.

This year we really became aware of a trend. There was a common comment from respondents that they were having difficulty picking what they thought were six really great albums to nominate this time. But when we dug deeper we found that in some cases they’d received so much stuff that they were simply unable to take it all in. It seems less of a coincidence, then, that the records which placed at the top of our new Best Packaged Album category were the same ones which placed high in the choices for the year’s best CDs. It’s already quite clear that if record labels are going to succeed in keeping the customers buying the physical artefact over the downloaded file, they have to produce something desirable. What might have been less apparent is that for something to have any chance of catching the ear of the critics, it has to catch their eyes first.

We can’t reveal the winner out of the top 4 nominated albums – listed alphabetically here – just yet. You’ll find that out when the winners of all the Awards categories are announced on BBC Radio 3’s World Routes on March 31st.

The New Albums Of 2006 section for the BBC Awards is for newly recorded single artist or band CDs. Our second important section is for compilations of old or new material (anything that would be listed as “Various Artists”), re-issues of older recordings and that newer animal, the remix album. That isn’t part of the BBC Awards so we can announce the outright winner here – congratulations to Network for once again grabbing the crown.

As usual we asked our panel to nominate 6 new albums and 4 re-issues/ compilations each and gave every nomination a point. The main provisos were that albums should have been first released since November 2005 (though we do allow a bit of slack for things which are slow permeating through) and that they fall into the areas of music that we cover in fRoots – music from anywhere with roots in a tradition. And this year we also asked for two nominations in that new Best Packaged Album category. 

NEW ALBUM OF 2006
The top 4 albums in the poll, which thus go forward as the Albums Of The Year nominees in the BBC Radio 3 Awards For World Music are (alphabetically):
1. BELLOWHEAD Burlesque (Westpark)
2. TOUMANI DIABATE’S SYMMETRIC ORCHESTRA Boulevard De L’Independance (World Circuit)
3. LILA DOWNS La Cantina: “Entre Copa Y Copa” (Narada/EMI)4. ALI FARKA TOURE Savane (World Circuit)

The rest of the top 15:
5. Tim Van Eyken Stiffs Lovers Holymen Thieves (Topic)
6. Maurice El Medioni Meets Roberto Rodriguez Descarga Oriental – The New York Sessions (Piranha)
7.Moussu T e lei Jovents Forever Polida (Manivette/ Le Chant du Monde)
8. Nuru Kane Sigil (Riverboat)
9. Tartit Abacabok (Crammed Discs)
10. Natacha Atlas Mish Maoul (Mantra)
11. Bob Dylan Modern Times (Sony)
12. K’naan The Dusty Foot Philosopher (Track & Field)
13. Seth Lakeman Freedom Fields (I Scream)
14. Estrella Morente Mujeres (EMI)
15. Ojos de Brujo Techari (Diquela)Karine Polwart Scribbled In Chalk (Spit & Polish)

Runners up (alphabetically):Africando Ketukuba (Sterns); Afrissippi Fulani Journey (Electric Catfish); Akli D Ma Yela (Because); Afel Bocoum & Alkibar Niger (Contre Jour); Marie Boine Idjagiedas (Emarcy Universal); Mercan Dede Breath (Doublemoon); Kris Drever Black Water (Reveal); El Tanbura Between The Desert And The Sea (World Village); Etran Finatawa Introducing Etran Finatawa (Introducing); Liu Fang Le Son de Soie (Accords Croisés); Free Hole Negro Superfinos Negros (TCI-Rapem); Gigi Gold & Wax (Palm Pictures); Hazmat Modine : Bahamut (Geckophonic); Salif Keita Mbemba (Universal); Kekele Kinavana (Stern’s); Reem Kelani Sprinting Gazelle (Fuse); Kila & Oki Kila & Oki (Kila); Samba Mapangala & Orchestre Virunga Song & Dance (Virunga); Eric Marchand, Costica Olan, Jacky Molard & Viorel Tajkuna Unu Doaou Tri Chtar (Innacor); Marisa Monte Infinito Particular (EMI); Marisa Monte Universo Ao Meu Redor (EMI); Oki Dub Ainu Deluxe (Chikar Studio); Orange Blossom Everything Must Change (Wrasse); Kelly Joe Phelps Tunesmith Retrofit (Rounder); Refugee All Stars Living Like A Refugee (Anti); Salsa Celtica El Camino (Discos Leon); Bruce Springsteen The Seeger Sessions (Columbia); Rachid Taha Diwan 2 (Wrasse); Tengir-Too Mountain Music From Kyrgyzstan (Smithsonian Folkways); Think Of One Trafico (Crammed Discs); Irma Thomas After The Rain (Rounder); Waterson:Carthy Holy Heathens & The Old Green Man (Topic); Värttinä Miero (Real World).  12/29/06 >> go there
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