BBC Radio 3 Awards for World Music - are now in their seventh year! The BBC Radio 3 Awards for World Music are the leading awards show for world music and aim once again to make a hughe impact on the international music calendar in 2008.

WOMEX, the world music expo has provided the voting academy for the BBC Radio 3 Awards ever since their inception in 2001. WOMEX is one of the valued partners of the BBC Radio 3 Awards, along with fROOTS, Songlines, and the Rough Guides.

For the 2008 event, the registered delegates of WOMEX and virtualWOMEX are invited to cast their votes for three of the four nominees in the geographical Awards categories (the fourth nominee in each category came from the BBC World Service music specialists). WOMEX delegates also chose all the nominees in the Cross-cultural Collaboration, Newcomer and Club Global categories.

As well as the categories voted on by WOMEX delegates, there are three more Awards. The fRoots Album Of The Year is organized by fROOTS magazine; the BBC Audience Award is voted on by listeners to the BBC Radio 3 and BBC World Service; and the World Shaker Award – to someone who has made their contribution to World Music behind the scenes – is decided by the Awards jury.

The nominees for the 2008 BBC Radio 3 Awards for World Music were announced at the WOMEX Awards ceremony on Sunday 28 October in Sevilla and on Radio 3's World Routes on 3rd November.

The 4 nominees in each category are listed below.

Africa

• Bassekou Kouyate
• Simphiwe Dana
• Tinariwen
• Toumani Diabate and the Symmetric Orchestra

   
Asia/Pacific   

• Anoushka Shankar
• Faiz Ali Faiz
• Huun-Huur-Tu
• Sa Ding Ding

   
Americas   

• Andy Palacio & The Garifuna Collective
• Bajofondo Tango Club
• Hazmat Modine
• Maria Rita

       
Europe

• Manu Chao
• Ojos de Brujo
• Son de la Frontera
• Thierry Titi Robin

       
Mid East & North Africa

• Malouma
• Nass El Giwane
• Rachid Taha
• The Idan Raichel Project

   
Newcomer   

• Balkan Beat Box
• Bassekou Kouyate
• Mayra Andrade
• Vieux Farka Touré

       
Culture Crossing

• Balkan Beat Box
• Bole 2 Harlem
• Idan Raichel Project
• Juldeh Camara & Justin Adams

Club Global       

• Balkan Beat Box
• Bajofondo Tango Club
• Gaudi-Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
• Transglobal Underground

Album of the Year       
The nominees for the album of the year will be decided by a panel of experts assembled by fRoots magazine

Audience Award       
Voting for the BBC Radio 3 Audience Award 2008 will open early in 2008.

For more details check the BBC Radio 3 website:
www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/worldmusic/a4wm2008/nominees.shtml

2007 BBC Radio 3 Awards for World Music Winners

The Awards concert took place 27 May, with thrilling live performances from Mahmoud Ahmed, Gotan Project, Debashish Bhattacharya, Ghada Shbeir and Maurice el Medioni.
The WOMEX delegates served as the nominating academy.
Watch the webcast or listen online right here:
www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/worldmusic/a4wm2007/index.shtml

• Africa
  Mahmoud Ahmed (Ethiopia)
• Americas
  Gogol Bordello (US)
• Middle East & North Africa
  Ghada Shbeir (Lebanon)
• Asia Pacific
  Debashish Bhattacharya (India)
• Europe
  Camille (France)
• Newcomer
  K'naan (Somalia)
• Culture Crossing
  Maurice el Medioni & Robert Rodriguez (Algeria-France/Cuba-US)
• Club Global
  Gotan Project (France/Argentina)