Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu was the big winner of the AIR Awards in Melbourne last night but jokes about Gabriella Cilmi went right over his head.
Many a joke about Gabriella Cilmi’s clean-up at the recent ARIA Awards was made. Yunupingi, who won three awards, has never even heard of the teenage popstar, it turns out.He picked up the major award for Best Australian Independent Album for ‘Gurrumul’ as well as Best New Independent Artist and Best Australian Independent Blues/Roots Album.
AIR, the Australian Independent Record Labels Association, held its annual awards at Richmond’s Corner Hotel.
The full list of winners was:
Best Independent Artist
The Herd (Elefant Traks/Inertia)
Best Independent Album
Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu - Gurrumul (Skinnyfish Music/MGM)
Best Independent Single/EP
The Getaway Plan - Where the City Meets The Sea (Boomtown Records/Shock)
Best New Independent Artist
Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu (Skinnyfish Music/MGM)
Best Independent Hard Rock/Punk Album
Eddy Current Suppression Ring - Primary Colours (Aarght Records/Shock)
Best Independent Urban/Hip Hop Album
The Herd - Summerland (Elefant Traks/Inertia)
Best Independent Country Album
Bec Willis - Bec Willis (Independent/Shock)
Best Independent Dance/Electronica Album
Peret Mako - The Devil is in the Detail (Future Classic/Inertia)
Best Australian Independent Blues/Roots Album
Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu - Gurrumul (Skinnyfish Music/MGM)
Best Australian Independent Jazz Album
Tina Harrod - Worksongs (Independent/Vitamin)
The night also featured showcases of some of Australia’s best independent act as well as surprise guest Martha Wainwright joining The Drones on a few killer covers of Nick Cave’s ‘Long Train Suffering’ and The Bee Gees ‘How Can You Mend A Broken Heart’.
Performers for the night were Lior, Felicity Urquhart, The Herdm, Grafton primary, Gurrumul, The Drones with Martha Wainwright and Eddy Current Suppression Ring.
