KUCHING, Malaysia, 13 March – Jamie Smith’s MABON, the first Welsh band in the history of the Rainforest World Music Festival (RWMF), has won ‘Best Group’ award in the 2014 Spiral Earth Awards. Recently awarded in the UK, the nominations were selected by the editorial team of the online folk and roots magazine, Spiral Earth. The winners were then decided by public vote and the full list was annouced through Spiral Earth website.
The year 2014 is already looking good for Jamie Smith’s Mabon, who have been steadily building a reputation for their outstanding original Celtic songs and instrumental music and their incendiary live performances. They are booked for a host of festivals, including the first slot ever for a Welsh band at the Rainforest World Music Festival to be held in Borneo.
The band features Adam Rhodes on bouzouki, fiddler Oli Wilson-Dickson, Matt “The Hat” Downer on bass and lolo Whelan on drums and percussion, alongside Jamie on accordion and vocals.
JSM are delighted that they are nominated in the Best Group category of 2014 Spiral Earth Awards and Jamie thinks they are happier to celebrate acts from the Celtic countries.
“They seem to deliberately try to break away from the English folk circuit, which can be quite cliquey. The BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards are by no means representative of the wider picture”, says Jamie, who is also one third of the traditional Manx trio Barrule also nominated in the Debut category of their self-titled album.
JSM has played sessions for BBC Radio 2 and Radio 3, headlined shows for Celtic Connections, WOMAD (UK), Interceltique du Lorient, Het Lindeboom (France), Music Meeting (Netherlands) and a host of high profile Festivals across Europe. In 2013, Jamie also won the competitive accordion competition at the Festival Interceltique de Lorient. They are seen as one of the ‘must see’ acts at the Rainforest World Music Festival this year.
The festival will celebrate its 17th edition this year and will feature at least 24 bands to perform on stage. To be held at Sarawak Cultural Village in Kuching, RWMF will be held from the 20th to 22nd June 2014. The organiser, Sarawak Tourism Board is delighted to have the winning band, Jamie Smith’s MABON to make its debut for the first time at the festival.
More information about the RWMF program and early bird discounts are available at http://rwmf.net/v2/tickets/
Jamie Smith’s MABON
Jamie at live
