2003 DW World Music Award to WDR radio production

WDR journalist Ulrike Klausmann has received the DW World Music Award 2003 for her one-hour report "Overtones on the Alpine Meadows." The award was presented to the winner in Bonn on Friday, 28th November by Director-General Erik Bettermann. Other awards went to Canadian and British productions.

Klausmann focused on musicians from Mongolia, Khakass, Kirghizia, Switzerland and Austria. While in Switzerland, she developed a musical project -- from first rehearsal to premiere -- in four days. She transformed the experimental work of these artists from different mountain regions into “a very vivid listening experience” according to the international jury of the World Music Award of Deutsche Welle. The programme was broadcast by WDR 3 as part of its series "Sound World."

DW organized this year’s award in conjunction with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and received more than 50 contributions from all over the world. The award is worth €4,000. Radio broadcasters from Australia, Sudan and Vietnam took part for the first time this year. The DW World Music Award is given to radio programmes that contribute to the raising of public interest in world music. The jury evaluates not only content and presentation of the entries submitted, but also the creative use of the medium of radio.

DW's Director-General Erik Bettermann, who presented the awards at Bonn’s Gangolf-Center, said: "Cultural exchange is a decisive aspect in efforts towards international understanding. And world music is the ideal form of expression. The response to our competition and the high quality of the contributions show that more and more broadcasters are actively becoming involved in the dialogue between cultures."

A Canadian team of writers came second in the competition. They are Ann MacKeigan, Jowi Taylor and Andy Sheppard and they produced a programme entitled "Music, Weapon for Peace", as part of the series "Global Village" by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) in Toronto.

They reported on musicians who had fled from Burma in a production to conincide with the UN International Day of Peace on 21st September. They also introduced to a wider audience a group of exiled Tibetan musicians, and a theatrical group from Tanzania dedicated to the elimination of landmines.

English author Lucy Duran was awarded third prize by the Deutsche Welle world music competition for a production about two Vietnamese musicians who returned to their hometown of Hanoi for the first time in 40 years. This programme about the roots of traditional music was broadcast by BBC Radio 3 in the series "World Routes."

After the awards ceremony, the audience was able to enjoy another DW "Music of the World" production featuring the Greek vocalist Maria Thoidou and the Turkish saz virtuoso Kemal Dinc.

28 November 2003
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