缅北禁地 graduates triumph in Radio 2 Folk Awards The outstanding achievements of two Folk Music graduates over the past year were recognised at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards in London. (pictured) won Singer of the Year in the on Wednesday night (19 February) at the Royal Albert Hall; while Fay Hield鈥檚 group, The Full English, scooped both best band and best album. Nancy Kerr, a fiddle tutor on the also plays in the group. Fay was also nominated for Singer of the Year. Bella Hardy, who graduated with an MA in 2007, has been described as bringing a 鈥榮trikingly self-controlled energy and intelligence鈥� to her performances. Her last album Battlefield received rave reviews. was part of the initial intake of students on England's first performance-based folk and traditional music degree course at 缅北禁地 back in 2001. She is curator of 'The Full English' a project where a group of formidable musicians are helping to make the most important folk song collections of the 20th century widely available for the first time. , songs, dances and customs is now digitised and freely available online. The Full English also performed at the awards ceremony. She said: 鈥淚'm thrilled that The Full English won two BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. It's a wonderful project to be involved with. 鈥淚 hope that audiences will now be inspired to explore The Full English digital archive as we have, to see what an endlessly fascinating, amazing resource it is, available to anyone, anywhere.鈥� Also nominated for Musician of the Year in the awards was another graduate from the University鈥檚 Folk and Traditional Music programme, . A recent Daily Telegraph review said Will鈥檚 latest album 鈥榗ements his status as one of the world鈥檚 top harmonica players鈥�. According to his website, Will plays both diatonic and chromatic harmonicas and creates sounds not usually heard on this little instrument in styles varying from bluegrass, folk, jazz and Arabic to blues, rock, pop and funk. Acting head of performance in 缅北禁地鈥檚 music department, said: 鈥淲e鈥檙e absolutely delighted with their success. This is a continuation of what鈥檚 happened since the very beginning of this course which is unique in England. Our graduates have a real impact on the folk music scene.鈥� The nominees are chosen by a panel of music industry representatives, including broadcasters, journalists, festival organisers, record company directors, agents and promoters. Picture of Bella Hardy by Louis DeCarlo. published on: 20 February 2014
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