World News – USA – Tame Impala, Sampa Big early ARIA Awards winners

Tame Impala, the West Australian psychedelic pop band, scored four victories in the early stages of a socially distant ARIA awards ceremony.

The live streaming event, the prizes of which are awarded in an empty Sydney convention center and accepted by artists mostly via video from home, is an opportunity to celebrate the end of a difficult year for the music business.

Tame Impala, the project of producer and songwriter Kevin Parker, won Best Rock Album and Best Group, beating 5 Seconds of Summer, DMA’S, Lime Cordiale and The Teskey Brothers.

Parker, who was due to tour Australia with the band next week, was also named Engineer of the Year and Producer of the Year for The Slow Rush, the band’s fourth album.

Sampa The Great, the 27-year-old Zambian-born artist who first moved to Australia six years ago, has won two awards, Best Independent Release and Best Hip Hop Release, both for The Return, her 2019 debut album. She is nominated for six.

Performing at ARIAs on Wednesday night from Botswana, where she grew up, she started a version of her song Final Form by pointing out the lack of diversity in the Australian music industry, which is overwhelmingly white at the top.

« Is this industry free for people like me? » she said in an introduction to the performance.

Accepting the award for best hip hop publication, she said in a category where she « often feels isolated and masculine »: « Now we are seeing a side of Australia that has never been shown. « . « 

Sampa, who became the first female artist to receive the coveted Australian Music Award for the second time this year, previously criticized the industry for what it sees as a hollow commitment to cultural diversity.

Amy Shark was an early winner too, picking up Best Pop Release for Everybody Rise, which she performed at the opening of the show, and Best Australian Live Act.

Best Country Album went to Fanny Lumsden for Fallow, while Archie Roach won Best Contemporary Adult Album for Tell Me Why.

Roach was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame this year. His eyes were wet with tears as he thanked supporters for their help throughout a 30-year career and performed Took The Children Away, one of his greatest hits.

Roach was supposed to tour in 2020 – that goes for every nominee – but for him it was something special: it should be the singer’s last.

Instead, 56-year-old Charcoal Lane re-recorded the Paul Kelly-produced album with Took The Children Away at home. He also worked on an educational resource to teach children about the stolen generations he is a part of.

In other categories, Dom Dolla won best dance publication for San Francisco, while Miiesha, a woman from Pitjantjatjara / Torres Strait Islander of central Queensland, won best soul / R&B publication for Nyaaringu.

The ceremony, hosted by Delta Goodrem, closes a year in which touring and even playing live games in general across the country has proven difficult.

The industry « fell off a cliff » in March when pandemic restrictions were put in place. That was a parliamentary hearing held earlier this month that saw hundreds of millions of dollars in lost wages.

ARIA has announced that live shows, an important part of the industry, won’t return in full force until the end of next year.

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ARIA Music Awards, Australian Recording Industry Association, Tame Impala, Music of Australia