The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #141635 Message #3262815
Posted By: Howard Jones
24-Nov-11 - 02:35 PM
Thread Name: BBc defends folk awards
Subject: RE: BBc defends folk awards
A vigorous defence from Mike Harding:
Mike Harding's blog
It is a bit alarming that what started out as a combination of the usual grumbling about the "usual suspects" from people whose favourites had been missed off, together with largely idle curiosity about who the judges are and what are the criteria for the different categories, has turned into a witchhunt in pursuit of some imagined scandal. Now those of us who are Mudcat regulars will recognise this as par for the course, but to outsiders, especially in the BBC, it may appear very different. If folkies appear to be so outraged by the Folk Awards, the BBC may ask themselves why they should continue to fund it.
Much as I enjoy Emma's blog, I think she's got this one wrong, and pestering the BBC's compliance department over a supposed breach for which there's no real foundation could do more harm than good.
The folk awards are a golden opportunity - pretty much the only opportunity in fact - for folk music and folk artists to get briefly noticed by the wider world. The shortlist won't please everyone, in fact it doubt if it entirely pleases anyone, but all the acts on it deserve to be there. Yes, there are other acts who perhaps also deserve to be there, but if they are good then they stand a chance of being there some day - if the Awards don't get scrapped in the meantime. Now that would be a bad day for folk.