ABC MUSIC WINS SIX ARIA AWARDS

ABC MUSIC, has won six ARIA Awards over the course of this week including Best World Music Album, Best Children’s Album, Best Comedy Album, Best Original Soundtrack/ Cast/ Show Album, Best Jazz Album and Best Classical Album.

Director of ABC Commercial, Lynley Marshall congratulated all the winning artists and paid tribute to the team at ABC Music. ‘We are blessed to have, within ABC Music, a team of extremely knowledgeable and passionate people who love their music and understand the interests and tastes of our many different audiences. Congratulations to Robert Patterson and his talented team and to our talented stable of artists. What a fitting end to a very successful year for ABC Music.”

Head of ABC Music, Robert Patterson said “This is a record breaking year for ABC Music, first with 18 nominations announced across 10 categories followed now by six ARIA awards. Our label showcases such a diverse array of great Australian talent and it is a fitting tribute that our artists have been recognised for excellence in so many genres this year.”

BEST CHILDREN’S ALBUM

THE WIGGLES favourite snoozer Jeff didn't mind being woken up in his Canadian hotel room on Tuesday night, where the group are currently touring, to be informed the much-loved Australian entertainers have been crowned ARIA's Kings Of The Kids again, having received the Award in the category of BEST CHILDREN'S ALBUM for Let's Eat! The band continues to break records, making ARIA Awards' history with their 9th win in this category! Celebrating their 19th year in 2010, THE WIGGLES are children's entertainers that have rewritten the book about how children can be entertained with song and dance.

BEST WORLD MUSIC ALBUM

World Music supergroup DJAN DJAN took out the ARIA Award in the category of BEST WORLD MUSIC ALBUM for their self-titled album. Band members MAMADOU DIABATE (kora, Mali), BOBBY SINGH (tabla, India) AND JEFF LANG (guitar, Australia) are well known and regarded for their individual careers. Although each member shows their respects to their cultural backgrounds of Africa, India and Australia, the music of Djan Djan stands alone as a uniquely new sound. Bobby was present at the Awards event to accept on the band’s behalf, and in doing so, also received the honour of being the first Indian musician in the history of the ARIAs to take home an award.

BEST ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK/CAST/SHOW ALBUM

The tribute to the career of one our most iconic recording greats, Paul Kelly, received the ARIA Award for BEST ORIGINAL SOUNTRACK/CAST/SHOW ALBUM. BEFORE TOO LONG: TRIPLE J’S TRIBUTE TO PAUL KELLY celebrated the 30th anniversary of the recording career of this Australian music great. The 3CD set includes the recordings taken from the concert event featuring such artists as Bob Evans, John Butler, Dan Sultan, Clare Bowditch, Missy Higgins and more. The DVD release features the concert and bonus material; ‘behind the scenes’ footage and interviews from Paul Kelly, Ash Naylor, John Butler to name a few.

BEST COMEDY ALBUM

THE BLOW PARADE, the comedy brainchild of The Chaser’s Chris Taylor & Andrew Hansen and triple j’s Craig Schuftan, picked up the award for BEST COMEDY ALBUM. This brilliant mockumentary series draws from the classic hits of the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s, making fun of the music industry mythology, music journalism and syndicated golden-oldies radio. Each show guides you through the making of a classic album you’ve robably never heard of because neither the albums nor the bands actually exist!

BEST JAZZ ALBUM

Continuing a stellar week for ABC Music in the rolling presentation of the 2010 ARIA genre awards, JAMES MORRISON AND THE IDEA OF NORTH won the ARIA for BEST JAZZ ALBUM. Although he’s one of the most highly-regarded figures in Australian music, this is actually Morrison’s first ARIA, and while they’ve been friends and musical collaborators for years, this is also the first time that The Idea of North and James Morrison have ever made an album together. The FEELS LIKE SPRING collaboration began last year in Morrison’s home studio on Sydney’s northern beaches when Australia’s most popular jazz-vocal quartet and the legendary trumpeter joined forces to record a vibrant collection of standards and original tunes.

BEST CLASSICAL ALBUM

In a triumphant conclusion to an extraordinary week for ABC Music, THE AUSTRALIAN BRANDENBURG ORCHESTRA’s Tapas last night won BEST CLASSICAL ALBUM. It is the ABO’s second consecutive award in this category and their fifth in total, and for ABC Classics it marks the 17th consecutive ARIA victory in the Best Classical Recording category. Released in March this year, Tapas brought a new concept into the performance of early music, transporting 17th century grounds, chaconnes and passacaglias into the world of 21st century dance-halls and using improvisation to an extent rarely found in the classics.