After five days of fog and drizzle and extortionately expensive food and drink, I can’t say I was sad to see the last of WOMEX in the Danish capital. But I will miss the sight of Jean Nouvel’s stunning cube-like concert hall, lit up every evening in blue swirls.

So here’s a round-up of my favourite WOMEX music showcases this year.

Sadly, like most of the day showcases, I only caught about 20 minutes of Shunsuke Kimura x Etsuro Ono’s set  – a Japanese Tsugaru-shamisen duo. These guys create some seriously funky blues music played on a three-stringed instrument with something that looks like a large hair clipper. They also performed on the Charlie Gillett stage at WOMAD this summer – definitely worth keeping an eye open for them in the future.

I nearly didn’t go and see Boubacar Traoré’s set, having seen him earlier in the year, but I am so glad I did. Possibly my favourite showcase at this year’s WOMEX and without a doubt, he was the best dressed musician, looking very dapper in a snazzy black & white checked suit, with matching cap. Hard to believe he is nearly 70 years old, especially when he does his little dance shuffle. Another highlight of this show was the fabulously soulful harmonica playing of Vincent Bucher. For a taster, check out the track ‘M’Badehou’ from Boubacar’s latest album Mali Denhou, a Top of the World in #74.

Saturday and the final night of showcases, and despite the usual end of WOMEX exhaustion and tired legs syndrome, even I managed to get my body dancing along to my favourite Quebecois band, Le Vent du Nord, with their high-spirited, rousing set of hurdy gurdy, fiddle and foot stomping. The Niger-born Touareg guitarist Bombino delivered a rocking performance, which went down extremely well with the packed crowd in the foyer of the concert hall – a vast improvement on his lacklustre show at the Barbican back in September. And finally, JuJu, who continued in a similar vein with a rollocking demonstration of how to get weary and inebriated WOMEX delegates dancing and going home smiling. The perfect rounding up of WOMEX 2011. Roll on Thessaloniki!

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JuJu was a Top of the World in issue #78 (August/September 2011) and Bombino was a Top of the World in issue #77 (July 2011).

For more details on the Transcender Festival, please visit the Barbican website.

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On the evening of Friday July 23, new African sensations Staff Benda Bilili will receive their award for Best Group, presented to them by world music writer and reporter Robin Denselow after their performance on the Open Air Stage, which starts at 7pm.

On the evening of Saturday July 24, British guitarist Justin Adams and Gambian singer and ritti (one-stringed fiddle) player Juldeh Camara will receive their award for Cross-Cultural Collaboration, presented to them by world music legend and WOMAD founder Peter Gabriel after their performance in the Siam tent, which starts at 6pm.

If you are at WOMAD Festival Charlton Park, come down and meet the team at the Songlines tent.

www.songlines.co.uk

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There are four categories: Best Artist, Best Group, Cross-Cultural Collaboration

and Newcomer – the results from the public vote generate the final nominees, the top four in each category.

The winners, selected by the Songlines editorial team, listed below, will be published in the June issue of Songlines, (#68) on sale from April 30 2010. The winners will also be announced on BBC Radio 3’s ‘World on 3’ programme, on April 30, by last year’s Best Artist winner, Rokia Traoré.

A 16-track compilation album (SPLCD003) featuring the four winners and 12 final nominees is out now on CD and download. A Songlines Music Awards 2010 app, for the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch, featuring excerpts and profiles on the winners and nominees, is also available to download for free from the iTunes App store.

“The audience for world music is greater now than it’s ever been,” says Simon Broughton, editor-in-chief of Songlines, “and it’s reaching out in ever more diverse directions. It’s still essential to have awards in which the leading names can be celebrated and the new and innovative names highlighted.”

And the winners are…

Best Artist

Goran Bregović

(for the album Alkohol on Wrasse Records)

Goran Bregović will be presented with his Songlines Music Award by Simon Broughton after his performance at the Festival de Jazz de Nice on July 18

Best Group

Staff Benda Bilili

(for the album Très Très Fort on Crammed Discs)

Staff Benda Bilili will be presented with their Songlines Music Award after their performance at WOMAD Charlton Park on July 23

Cross-Cultural Collaboration

Justin Adams & Juldeh Camara

(for the album Tell No Lies on Real World)

Justin Adams & Juldeh Camara will be presented with their Songlines Music Award after their performance at WOMAD Charlton Park on July 24

Newcomer

Deolinda

(for the album Canção ao Lado on World Connection)

Deolinda will be presented with their Songlines Music Award by Jo Frost, Songlines editor, after their performance at CCB in Lisbon on June 8

Songlines Music Awards 2010 CD is on sale now

www.songlines.co.uk/music-awards

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