Electronauts - Georgian Electronic Music Awards

About:

The award ceremony will be held March 2009. This time the categories and winners will be chosen not only by “online community” but also by the experts, representatives of Georgian media and showbiz. The ceremony will take part in the newly established club GURU and will be split in two parts - the award ceremony and the concert of well known artists like TBA ( aka Tusja Beridze), Nika Machaidze (Electronaut 2007) and new and emerging Georgian musicians. The event will be broadcasted on the net and on one of the major Georgian TV channels (not yet fixed). As a follow up a DVD release is planned.

First Georgian Electronic Music Awards

On December 4, a crowd of clubbers and lovers of alternative music rushed into the Royal Court Theatre. Everyone wanted to be present at the first awards ceremony for electronic music in Georgia. And when the old space of the theatre (distinguished for its great acoustics) was filled with a great cross-section our society, the ceremony kicked off dynamically with the sonority of electronic music. When the show’s climax arrived, the show’s MC Nene addressed the audience: “Ladies and gentlemen, the first awards ceremony for electronic music in Georgia is approaching its last nomination. Who is the best electronic musician or eletronaut?”

Before revealing the name of the best electronaut, let me briefly introduce you to the 10-year history of electronic music in Georgia and the organizers, nominees and bands present at the Royal Court Theatre that evening:

History never rules out paradoxes and the history of Georgian electronic music is also paradoxical as the first generation of Georgian electronauts actually emerged during the electricity crisis. The first experiments with electronic music were done in the early 1990s (Dada Dadiani, Children’s Medicine, and the Georgian Dance Empire). At an electronic music festival held in Paris in 1999 Nika Machaidze (Nikakoi) won the grand prix.

The winners were revealed on the basis of an internet survey carried out in the internet:

1) Best website of electronic music: www.dance.ge
2) Best supporter company: Kent
3) Best radio show of electronic music: Music Hall (Fortuna+)
4) Best video: City Lights (Nika Machaidze, Tusia Beridze)
5) Best foreign artist: Freq Nasty
6) Best promoter: Guga Akhaladze
7) Best venue for electronic music: Night Office
8) Best DJ: Gio Bakanidze
9) Best event: Freq Nasty at Adjara Music Hall

Before telling you the winner of the most prestigious nomination, let me tell you that during the ceremony Georgian alternative rock and electronic music was played at the Royal Court Theatre. In between the announcement of the winners the band Green Room (their new album Last Minute of Terrorist will be soon for sale), Dima Dadiani (“uncompromised” according to the show’s host), the bands String, Vitamin, Baju (pioneer of Georgian electronic music from Kutaisi) and others.

As for the 10th award, the prize for best Georgian electronic musician (i. e. “electronaut”) was given to Nika Machaidze (Nikakoi). And with that, Electronaut 2007 bade farewell till next year.

Myspace: www.myspace.com/elektronavtebi

Web: www.electronauts.ge