Five of the nine acts nominated for the $30,000 album award in a shortlist announced on Tuesday are female solo artists or women-only groups,while three male acts come from a culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) community.
Alongside First Nations group King Stingray,Korean rap quintet 1300 and Zambian-born Sampa the Great,the shortlist includes Body Type,Camp Cope,Julia Jacklin,Laura Jean,Party Dozen and Tasman Keith.
1300 rapper Jason Vuong (aka Pokari.sweat) said it was “pretty incredible” his group was part of a diverse shortlist of top Australian music when much of their nominated albumForeign Language was in Korean.
“The fact that Australia still cares ... is heartwarming,really,” he said. Vuong added much of the shortlist had shone a spotlight on “things that are probably not white Australia”.
“All these artists are on the fringes of Australian music. So it’s cool to see that they’re kind of with us,because we’re definitely on the fringe ourselves.”
The Australian Music Prize is a lesser-known music gong designed to recognise an album “not written for radio play or commercial appeal”. Its focus on artistic quality has rewarded the likes of Hermitude,Augie March,Courtney Barnett and last year’s winner Genesis Owusu – often helping spur non-mainstream acts to bigger success.
Vuong – who produces and sometimes performs alongside Angus Jin (Nerdie),Andy Lim (Dali Hart),Tae Kim (Goyo) and Jihun Kong (Rako) – still works a day job selling clothes to sustain himself,while 1300’s earnings (when they don’t run dry and the boys must stump up their own cash) are reinvested in the Korean rap crew’s music videos and artistic ambitions.
“All of us are really good kids. We’re not like typical rappers,spending money on diamond chains or anything like that. We[are] all really,like,Asian about it,” Vuong said.
Although the group is frugal,Vuong said winning the $30,000 prize would be “tremendously” helpful.
“[With] five mouths to feed,$30,000 would really help us continue to work hard on music. I can skip a week or two of work to do more stuff,” he said.
Camp Cope lead singer Georgia Maq,who is nominated for the group’s third albumRunning With the Hurricane,said the other shortlisted acts were all “terrific and well-deserved”.
“I think it’s a very good representation of Australian music and what we have to offer and how diverse it is,” she said.
Maq,who plays with Kelly-Dawn Hellmrich and drummer Sarah “Thomo” Thompson,said the $30,000 prize,if the trio won,would help them take Hellmrich’s newborn baby on tour.
Roy Kellaway,King Stingray’s guitarist,said the band was “stoked” their debut album using the band’s name had made the shortlist,while Body Type,a four-piece female post-punk rock group,said they were honoured to be nominated forEverything Is Dangerous But Nothing’s Surprising.
Sampa the Great’s nomination forAs Above,So Below means she,cementing her status as an artistic star.
Indie singer Julia Jacklin has been nominated forPre Pleasure,Laura Jean’s folk-themedAmateursalbum scored her a shortlist nod,while First Nations rapper Tasman Keith is in contention thanks toA Colour Undone.Sydney duo Party Dozen were shortlisted forThe Real Work.
The Australian Music Prize winner will be announced on March 1 in Sydney.
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