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Artist News Awards
Oram Awards winners announced
By Andy Malt | Published on Friday 14 June 2019
Ahead of a day of events – including the prize-giving ceremony – on Saturday, organisers of the Oram Awards have announced this year’s six winners. They are Ain Bailey, Andie Brown, Cee Haines (aka Chaines), Natalie Sharp (aka Lone Taxidemist), Nwando Ebizie (aka Lady Vendredi) and Steph Horak (aka SheIsRevolting).
The awards, named after legendary producer Daphne Oram, recognise female music creators innovating in music, sound and related technologies. This is the third time the awards have taken place and this year the programme expands into a full day of events at King’s Place in London.
At the awards ceremony on Saturday evening, two of the winners will be announced as recipients of development bursaries of £1500 from the PRS Foundation, while the remaining four will each receive £500.
A number of the finalists have commented on their Oram Award wins…
“It is brilliant to see so many woman flourishing in the electronic/experimental music scene as a consequence of such dedicated initiatives [such as this]”, says Steph Horak. “I like to think that people like Daphne Oram and [fellow pioneer at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop] Delia Derbyshire were not dismayed at the lack of formal recognition they received, because they were just busy getting on with the job”.
“They were so enthralled by the possibilities of the technology around them that they didn’t stop to consider how their gender might prevent them from accessing those research spaces”, Horak adds. “This is probably not true. [But] we owe them a debt for treading that path – the best contribution I can make today is to continue to produce and be visible. This support makes that possible, thank you so much”.
Cee Haines says: “It’s great to be acknowledged as a non-binary person winning an Oram award. Given the state of transgender healthcare in the UK, and subsequent financial pressure of pursuing private treatment, it often feels like I’m having to choose between my health and my musical career. Winning an award gives me hope that I can still move forward musically, even under that pressure”.
Andie Brown says: “It is wonderful to have the recognition and support of The Oram Awards which I hope will allow me to draw attention to newer and lesser known strands of my practice in working with glass and electronics in sculptural sound installation. I am really excited to put the bursary towards a new collaboration with a glass studio to create pieces for a new installation”.
And Ain Bailey comments: “As an older queer Black woman, somewhat ‘late’ to sound art life, it’s a genuine pleasure to be recognised by The Oram Awards for not only the work that I am doing, but those who I am working with. The bonus that comes with the recognition is that it will probably lead to more work in the short term, and hopefully contribute to the development of a sustained practice”.
Closing off Saturday’s celebrations there will be live performances and DJ sets from past and present Oram Award winners. Find out more about this year’s winners and everything that’s happening on Saturday here.
