The Teatro Kapital in Madrid hosted this Wednesday, January 25 the VI edition of the National Prizes of Electronic Music «Vicious Music Awards» that once again are consolidated as the great event of the electronic music industry of our country.
The gala, presented by Rodrigo Taramona, brought together promoters, artists, managers, press agents, club and festival directors, record labels, and more than one hundred specialised journalists accredited for the occasion.
A total of 1,200 industry professionals who, between emotion and applause, discovered the 29 winners among the 140 finalists, in this VI edition of the different specialised awards in this genre of music at the national level.
These awards, as Alfredo Rocabert (CEO of Vicious Media) expressed in his speech during the gala, have a double mission: « To be the annual meeting for all those who dedicate our life — not just the professional — to what we love the most: electronic music. Moreover, the awards are a moment for us, to support us and show us respect, whatever our role within this industry is».
Moreover, he added: «From Vicious Magazine, we also want to serve as a high-level dissemination platform that national electronic music has not only in Spain but at an international level, both for industry and society in general ».
In this VI edition, the awards have been granted taking into account the judgment of the public (Public Vote), and the criterion of a secret jury formed by journalists specialised in the different categories.
At the end of the gala the members of the jury were released (here in alphabetical order): Alex David of URBAN MAGAZINE, Bruno Caneda of Vicious Magazine, Cris Zapa of Vicious Magazine, Diego Fernandez of DJ Mag Spain, Fernando Fuentes of Jaguay/DJ Mag Spain, Ion Romay of Vicious Radio, Israel Mendez of MAGNETIC Magazine Spain and LaTAM, Joan Luna of Mondosonoro, Juanjo Blanco of MAGNETIC Magazine España and LaTAM, Julio Alcaina of EDM Spain, Miguel Robles of Madrid EDM , Neil Sole of LOCA FM, Ramón Vicente of EDMred, Sandra Vian of UNIKA FM, Sergio Bifeis of Electrónica & Roll and Solid of Música Cuántica.
Also for this edition, the #VMA16 invited two respected national communication media, Vjspain and Mondosonoro, to collaborate with the awards by granting two special prizes: Best Audiovisual Artist Award by Vjspain and Best Electroacoustic Band Award by Mondosonoro.
Pat Quinteiro, of the press agency PAT Comunicaciones, moderated the jury for the second year during the voting process.
Among the winners, there were plenty of double awarded artists.
From Malaga, Cuartero received the grand ovation of the gala with his double award which recognises him as the Best Artist Tech-House / Deep House and the Best Artist of the Year by BURN.
This last prize positions him as the best national artist of the year, both for its productions and his passing through some of the most prestigious national and international festivals of the year, as well as for their residencies.
DJ Nano Rose, as he did in 2015, the Award to the ♯MASC Audience’s Favourite Artist by Carlsberg, as well as the Best Electro Dance Artist.
BeGun is another of the artists with the double prize. On the one hand the Best Live and on the other, the Best Experimental Artist-IDM. Both prizes recognise the great work done by this artist, who was also a finalist in other categories such as Best Album with AMMA.
From Valencia, AFFKT won prizes at Best Producer by SAE and Best Album by Son Of A Thousand Sounds.
In addition to these double winners, highlights of this edition are the presence of women in the top positions in several categories. Fátima Hajji was awarded the Audience #FEM Favorite Artist by Calsberg and was also among the finalists in the category Best Techno Artist.
The Galician producer Cora Novoa achieved for the first time in the history of the prizes, as a woman, one of the most prestigious awards, the Best DJ.
The Madrid club Goya 43 took the award to the Best Club by GinArt.
Moreover, for the islands were the prizes to Best Beach Club by FLUGE, won as in 2015 by the Papagayo Beach Club in Tenerife, and Best Hotel Club by ITRA SMART by Hotel ME in Ibiza.
The original party of Brunch – In won the prize Best Party of the Year, while the prize for Best Ibiza Party was for Ushuaïa BLUE.
The award for Best Live Radio Program was for the program Lapsus of Radio3-RNE, commanded by bRUNA, Wooky and Lester. Moreover, the prize for Best International DJ went to Eric Prydz.
The best artists awarded by genres were: the duo Subshock & Evangelos, who won the award for Best Artist Bass Music / D & B / Trap; Arzadous, who won the Best Hardstyle Artist Award; The Best House / Nu Disco Artist award by HOTEL INDIGO was for John Talabot; and the big surprise of the night was the prize to the Best Techno DJ, that fell on Svreca.
WAS was crowned Best Electro-Acoustic Band according to the magazine Mondosonoro and the singer Lara Taylor won the award for Best Vocalist of the Year again, as she did in 2014.
The award for Best Audiovisual Artist, an award that recognises the contribution of visual artists to the world of electronic music, was delivered by Óscar Testón of VJSPAIN to the artist Óscar Sol. The Best New Artist was to Crusy; the Dreambeach Villaricos won the Best Festival Award by THUNDER BITCH and the national label Semanatica took the prize to the Best Label.
The entire public of Kapital broke into a great applause in which was one of the most exciting moments of the gala: when the Ibiza night promoter Pepe Roselló received the Honorific Prize «Vicious Magazine». For his contribution to the history of national and international electronic music, and for his work in front of Space Ibiza, the Club with more than 30 awards, also considered the best disco in the world and for its significant quality in all aspects, Space Ibiza was made in turn with the award for the Best Nightclub by DAS AUDIO.
Also, during the Gala, audiences were able to enjoy the performances of Cumhur Jay and Paradise Phantoms feat David Penn, followed by an After Party in Kapital which counted with the national and international representation of Cuartero, Marc Houle (live), Fabio Florido and Luis Junior.
Text by Pat Quintero / Patcomunciaciones.
